Hope For Tomorrow
by Revvie-S
Summary: Catastrophe strikes Earth and all is lost...or is it? This is a Sam and Jack AU romance. New chapters added
1. The Invasion

Hope For Tomorrow 

Sam relished the familiar taste of commissary jello as she read the next mission briefing for her team. The commissary was unusually full with personnel today and Sam found herself repeatedly distracted from her reading by the amount of activity around her. After a long weekend away, she had hoped to run into one or more of her team here, but so far none of them were to be seen. Then her eyes fell on the very familiar figure of General O'Neill determinedly making his way through the crowded room towards her.

"Carter!" He called and waved. The serious look on his face sent a shiver of concern through her. With a few more long strides, Jack slid into a chair facing her, leaned in close and began talking quietly so as not to be overheard.

"I've been looking for you. Long-range scanners have picked up some anomalies. I want you to come with me and help evaluate them. Now."

Sam shoved the jello aside and got to her feet.

"Sure," she answered, following O'Neill out of the commissary and down the hallway to the situation room. Teal'C met them at the door, alarm on his features.

"O'Neill," he said urgently, "the anomalies appear to be heading to Earth and they have made course adjustments within the past hour, ruling out natural phenomena. I believe them to be alien ships approaching Earth."

"Goa'uld?"

"Too early to I.D. them, but that's a fair guess," volunteered Sgt. Siler.

"Colonel Carter, try to make contact with the Asgard. And see if you can locate the Tok'Ra or the Nox. Order Prometheus into orbit to get us some more information. I'm going to make a few phonecalls- keep me apprised."

O'Neill jogged off to his office and Carter ran towards the Stargate control room. Ice ran through her veins as she glanced back at Jack O'Neill's retreating figure. It had been a long time since she had seen him so alarmed.

Just over an hour later, Sam was back at the radar screen in the situation room, having failed to make immediate contact with any alien allies. Prometheus was already in orbit, and she hailed the commander.

"Anything you can tell us?"

Jack had stepped in behind Sam now, so close she could feel his breath on her cheek, and both were riveted to the screen as the blips approached.

"Only that the ships are approaching very quickly and from the energy signature they are Goa'uld. Doesn't look good, sirs," responded Prometheus.

All of them knew that without a new Zero Point Module power unit there wasn't sufficient energy in the recently discovered Antarctic weapon to fight off a full-scale Goa'uld attack on Earth.

Jack sighed and hung his head, eyes closed.

"Sir, we should make the call to start evacuations to the Beta site," Sam said, turning to him.

"Yeah."

His voice was a despairing whisper.

Jack straightened up and left the room without a word. Sam watched him go, unwilling to turn back to the screen and watch Earth's impending doom approaching. Sam's insides felt frozen.

'So this is how it ends', she thought.

"Siler, can you make an estimate of when the alien ships will enter Earth's orbit?"

"Yes, Colonel. 5 hours. One of the ships is approaching faster than the others. It will be in Earth's orbit within four hours."

"5 hours!" She gasped. Sam knew it was right but her mind rebelled anyway.

"I'm going to help with the evacuation, Siler, carry on. You need to be ready to leave for the Beta site in 5 hours. We'll stay and monitor until zero hour."

"Yes, Colonel," Siler said in a voice of shock.

He turned back to his post. Sam turned and went towards her lab, stumbling a little as she tried to get her mind around what was about to happen. She needed to make sure all sensitive information and equipment from the base was either evacuated or destroyed. She had to ensure that the new colony on Beta had enough technology and supplies to have a fighting chance.

Sam suddenly gasped as she realized how little time there was to get people to safety and ran to make a phone call in her lab.

"Pete!" She cried urgently as she heard his voice on the other end of the phone.

As she explained the situation, she thought how advantageous it was that she had told Pete months ago about the Stargate program. At the time she had questioned whether she had done the right thing, in spite of the General's support of her decision to tell him everything. But now, because he needed no convincing, there was no question in Pete's mind that Sam's terse warning was real.

"I'll get as many people as I can to come to the mountain, Sam. Will we be able to get in?"

"I'll make sure of it, Pete. Please hurry! And Pete- can you pick up Cassie at my house and bring her with you?"

The thought of kind, gentle Pete or her beloved Cassandra being caught in a Goa'uld invasion made her frantic with fear. She had one more phonecall to make.

"Catherine?"

"Sam, what's wrong?"

"Listen carefully. And get down here ASAP." Sam proceeded to tell Catherine what she had told Pete. She knew that she was losing precious minutes to get all the SGC equipment destroyed or transferred to Beta.

But nothing in this base was worth the lives of her friends.

It was four hours later. Zero hour was almost upon them now.

The SGC had opened up the gates of Cheyenne Mountain now that all essential personnel and equipment were safely on Beta, and were allowing anyone to go through the Gate. Pete, Cassie and Catherine had gone through the Stargate already along with 16 members of the police force of Colorado Springs and their families. Although the Stargate was not public knowledge, enough people knew about the existence of an underground base that the mountain was slowly being filled with desperate people seeking shelter from the air attacks.

The government had made the invasion public knowledge an hour ago, deciding that mass panic was a risk to be faced if the knowledge could somehow save a few more innocent people. The Goa'uld ship that was an hour in advance of the main fleet had already begun destroying cities on Earth.

The surprise and wonder on the faces of the civilians as they were introduced to the Stargate and dumped into it without ceremony would have been fascinating to watch if the circumstances weren't so dire.

"Carter, Siler, listen to this," O'Neill said in an incredulous tone as he turned up the volume on the emergency broadcast network.

"We are getting reports from all over the world of simultaneous bombing of the major cities of Earth..." the report went on, as the three stood transfixed by the news they had feared but had still hoped wouldn't come to pass.

O'Neill's eyes closed in sorrow and anger. Each one of them thought silently of all the people they knew and loved who were about to be annihilated by the Goa'uld.

Carter and Siler stood at their post mutely watching the invasion force as it approached on screen while the evacuation through the Gate continued at a desperate pace.

O'Neill walked up to Sam to where she stood in the situation room and laid a warm hand solidly on her shoulder.

"You go now, Sam," he said quietly.

"What about you?"

"Siler and I'll be right behind you."

Sam looked up at him then, unable to stop tears of doubt and fear from filling her eyes. She never had totally trusted Jack's over-developed sense of bravado.

"I promise, Sam. I'll be through soon. I swear," he said firmly as he looked steadily into her eyes.

"Okay."

She started to go, then turned back to him, and with a cautious glance at Siler, reached out hesitantly to Jack. Jack's eyes flashed with sudden desperate intensity and he caught her up in a fierce hug that left her breathless.

"We'll be right behind you. Now go."

She gave him another uncertain look to which he nodded his head reassuringly.

"Yes sir," she conceded, leaving for the Stargate.

"Siler, we can shut the Gate down at zero hour from the other side, right? I'd like to leave it open as long as possible in case anybody else finds their way down here."

They both knew that without any escorts left in the complex, the chance of that happening was slim, but Jack couldn't stand the thought of shutting the 'door' until the last second.

"No problem, sir, the Gate will shut down automatically as soon as the radio signal from Beta is cut off."

"Okay, then, time to go, Siler."

The two men walked slowly to the gateroom, each looking around at the familiar sights of the now deserted SGC. They reached the ramp and Siler went up to the brink of the shimmering wormhole, but Jack paused, conflicted and seething with helpless anger, at the bottom of the metal plank.

"How can we just leave without a fight?"

"General, we're on the offensive, in a way- we're making sure part of Earth survives. Who knows, sir, maybe the Asgard will show up and we'll all be back here tomorrow."

"Yeah. Hey, Siler, are the dialing computers wiped clean?"

"There's not even a crumb for a mouse in here, sir."

Jack nodded. "Good work. Let's go." He strode up the ramp to where Siler stood waiting and they stepped through the event horizon, the last two inhabitants of Earth to leave the planet alive.

The first night on Beta was like a scene out of the Stone Age blended with high tech props. There was no power source yet, outside of the few buildings that had already been here and ran on modestly sized generators, so computers, more generators, and equipment sat uselessly around the Gate while huge bonfires glowed at regular intervals and tents were being erected by all available hands. Some refugees sat frozen in shock by the fires, while others worked at a frenetic pace to keep from having to think about anything.

Sam, unable to sleep, was putting her adrenaline to good use in one of the previously existing Beta site labs getting some of the SGC equipment set up. Jack, Teal'C and Daniel were among the many putting up tents and helping the refugees get settled and fed. A surprisingly large number of people had been evacuated through the Stargate in the last few desperate hours, most carrying only the clothes they wore, all needing immediate food and shelter. Beta had been designated for just this sort of contingency years ago and consequently there were huge stores of supplies on the planet.

The length of the day on Beta was 33 hours, so it was after many hours of erecting tents until well past dark that Jack finally gave out, completely spent, and collapsed in one of the tents with Daniel and Teal'C.

As dawn began to lighten the sky, Sam found them. With a sigh of familiarity, she slipped off her boots and wormed her way in between Jack and Daniel, who were so tired they never even twitched as she snuggled in. Closing her eyes, she drifted to sleep imagining the four of them on an offworld mission, sleeping together under the stars as they had done so many times.

It was a pretense that helped her forget.

For a while, at least.

"Sam."

The blue-tinged Beta sun was shining through the tent flaps as Sam struggled to come back to the land of the conscious. Every muscle in her body was in full-blown rebellion. When she finally got one eye open, she saw Jack crouched next to her with a cup of water and an energy bar.

"Sam," he said softly again. "You okay?"

"I guess," she answered fuzzily.

"You've been asleep for about 12 hours." Sam sat up slowly and Jack stretched his legs out in front of him.

"Here- breakfast, lunch, whatever. Eat."

"Thanks," she looked up at him then. "I'm starved."

"Whoa!" Jack teased. "I need those fingers!"

Sam smiled at him, her cheeks full as she wolfed down the energy bar. Her face grew serious and wistful as she watched Jack gazing at her, concern and affection in his eyes. She was suddenly very grateful to be alive, and with her entire team, on this unknown world, when so many had been left behind to die. Jack met her gaze steadfastly, and after a minute a tired smile crept onto his face as he studied her.

"We'll figure this out together, Carter, one day at a time. Things won't always seem this bad, you know."

He spoke with the calmness of one who had once been at the bottom of the pit and knew there was a way out.

"I was a little worried that you weren't going to come through the Stargate, sir."

"I thought about staying- but I promised someone I'd be here."

Sam nodded and allowed herself to explore his eyes, so intense and serious as he reminded her of the promise he'd made to her. She let him help her to her feet to go join Daniel and Teal'C. As their hands joined, a sense of belonging swept through her and lifted her spirits. They were her family now.

Jack kicked moodily at the edge of the buried Stargate, wondering for the hundredth time if anyone on Earth had survived the Goa'uld attack. It had been two weeks since that fateful day, and still no communication had been received from any of their alien allies. Of course, the fact that they had buried the Stargate, albeit in self-defense, made it hard for any of their allies to contact them. It was a stalemate: they couldn't take the chance of opening the Gate until the Beta site defenses were stronger, but building a strong defense would be a lot easier with the help of their allies. Each day brought more frustration to Jack. The more it appeared that they were never leaving Beta, the more unbearable it felt to Jack to admit that this was now his home. Scans done on Earth had indicated that Beta was a larger planet than Earth. Maybe he needed distract himself by doing a little exploring soon.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and studied his feet.

"That looks like Jack O'Neill body language for 'I'm bored,'" quipped Daniel as he came up next to Jack.

"Try, I'm sick of doing nothing to fight the Goa'uld," Jack answered. "I just want a couple of those staff cannons, some C-4 and a..."

"Jack!" Daniel stopped him. "You want to really get back at the Goa'uld? Come back to Base City and help build it up. One day we will be strong enough to take them on and win."

Jack muttered as he stood and wiped the dust off his rear end. He appreciated what Daniel was trying to do, he really did. But he stubbornly wanted to wallow in his moodiness a bit longer, so he said nothing in response.

"Sam is almost ready to reinstall the dialing computer, if we can keep a reliable power source in place. If she can get the computer system to work with the DHD here, we can reinstall the iris and finally unbury our Gate."

"Cool."

"Come back to the lab and see what she's done," Daniel coaxed.

"Thanks Daniel. You go. I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?" Jack still looked stormy and restless.

"Okay," Daniel agreed. He turned after a moment and went back to the new settlement.

Jack looked at the covered Stargate, homesick, weary in his soul and lost in thoughts of Earth. It was one of the few times in his life when he had absolutely no idea what to do next.

Sam felt rather than saw a presence at the door of her lab later that afternoon and turned to greet O'Neill.

"Hi, sir, you been keeping busy?"

"Not really. I heard you have, though. How's it going?"

"I'm a few days away from giving the dialing system test run, but first we need to install the iris. That will probably be a bear of a job." She wiped her hands off and sat on a box near the door. O'Neill gingerly seated himself on the box next to it as if he was unsure whether it would blow up or something.

"So how you doing with all this, Carter?" Jack ventured.

"All this? Oh." She noticed his troubled mood and was momentarily caught off guard. She couldn't actually remember a precedent for this, for Jack actually needing to talk about his feelings.

"Everything- it's overwhelming, actually. I try not to think too much."

"That must be very hard, for you," Jack mused with a small grin. Sam chuckled, then deliberately caught his gaze.

"You okay, sir?" Her expression told him what he needed to know: that she was still here if he needed her, and she cared about what he thought and felt.

"Yeah, just thinking too much."

"Um, I'm tempted to say something but it might be insubordination." Sam smiled as she teased him. Feeling unaccountably cheered by their brief exchange, he stood up and stretched out his stiff arms and legs.

"I'm due back at base camp in a few for a 'preliminary governing meeting', Daniel tells me. Here we are on a brand new world Carter- how is it we still have too much to do all the time?"

"Can I walk over there with you? I'm finished here, for now." Sam put away her laptop and looked over at Jack.

"Sure, let's go. You too busy to sit and eat your MRE with me and the boys tonight? I've missed seeing you lately," Jack confessed.

"Well, sounds like a great date, especially the choice of food. Sure, I'd love to."

The meeting commenced early that evening, after everyone ate. Jack was the senior ranking military officer on the Beta site now.

The Colorado Springs Chief of Police, Dan Riley, had survived, thanks to the quick reaction of Pete Shannahan to Sam's frantic call. He was a serious, reserved man in his fifties whom Jack liked immediately. Because of the swiftness of the attack, a few representatives from the Colorado State House were the only governmental figures there. They seemed dazed and unable to focus, so Jack concentrated on the military and police personnel at the meeting as they set up a provisional governing structure for Beta.

Teal'C was at Jack's side, getting curious stares from those from Earth who were still trying to grasp the fact that aliens existed and even that they were now on another planet.

Okay, folks," Jack said in his understated fashion. "Let's come to order here."

The clearing, lit by a bonfire, speedily became quiet. Jack's natural authority was just what this group of weary refugees was looking for, and Jack keenly felt the weight of their trust.

"Up until now, we've all been operating in crisis mode. I want to commend all of you. You've given more than 100 percent to this effort and in two weeks of effort we now have expanded access to water supplies and food supplies so that rations are adequately available to everyone. You've set up living quarters for the approximately 550 people who now live on this base, and helped bury the Stargate until such time as we will be adequately prepared to defend it.

We've all lost an incredible amount in a very short time. Your reactions to this crisis have been heroic. But there's a lot more to do. We can't afford to give in to grief and despair. If we are Earth now, we have a responsibility to all those left behind to survive and prosper. Let's pledge here and now to work together to see that we do."

The forty or fifty people who had come to the meeting murmured their agreement. Around the edges of the clearing, many others were listening as Jack continued.

"For this purpose, I nominate Chief Riley as civilian commander."

"And I nominate General O'Neill as military Commander-In-Chief to work in tandem with the civilian government in all matters," Daniel interjected clearly.

"Second," several people murmured.

"All in favor say aye?" Daniel added.

"Aye," the clearing resounded.

"First order of business is to divide into task forces. Chief Riley will set up task forces to equally distribute supplies, explore food sources on the planet, and establish and protect individual homesites. I will oversee the scientists..." here O'Neill couldn't resist a tiny ironic grin for Carter, "in the development and establishment of energy sources, Gate travel when we are able, and research and exploration of Beta. This is a big planet and there's a lot to learn about it, I'm told. I will oversee the military personnel who have survived and the Chief and I will work together on any issues as they arise. Questions, comments?"

O'Neill stopped and looked around the circle at the faces shadowed by the flickering firelight.

"How do we divide into task forces? Just volunteer?"

"Tomorrow morning I'll be here with General O'Neill to make a list of all your prior occupations and skills and preferences and we will start the process of assigning people to specific tasks."

Chief Riley had stepped up and spoke with quiet authority.

"How do we get properly compensated for what we do?" The two leaders looked a bit annoyed at this.

"Everyone will receive the same rations and quarters, regardless of what they contribute," O'Neill said sharply.

"We have some among us who need more time than others to adjust to the catastrophic event we've all been through. Until the medical personnel here have had a chance to evaluate and treat everyone, both mentally and physically, which I suspect will take a long time, there will be no unequal distribution. Therefore I anticipate that this order will apply for the foreseeable future."

There was a brief murmur at this, but everyone seemed to agree, for the walking wounded among them were more than evident.

"I suggest you all get a good night's rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day. Good night and dismissed."

O'Neill turned and walked away from the crowd. Sam, Pete, and Daniel followed him.

"Good job, General," Sam said proudly. "That was a great speech."

"You sound surprised, Carter, should I be hurt?" O'Neill teased. Sam was glad to see him joking around a little, for she was worried that the role he had taken on was weighing heavily upon him.

"Thanks from me too, General. You encouraged a lot of folks tonight." Pete said earnestly.

"Well, we'll see in the morning how things fall out. Pete, how many of your police officers made it through?"

"Sixteen, counting the Chief. Most of their of their families got through with them." O'Neill nodded at this.

"That's good to hear."

"Well, I'm going to get some sleep. Good night, General, Pete, Daniel," Sam said.

She looked exhausted as she walked away.

O'Neill noted to himself with surprise that Pete didn't follow her, although he watched her go with a wistful eye. Things seemed more distant between them, although they were friendly enough when they were together.

Interesting.

Jack decided he would have to figure that out when their more immediate concerns became manageable.

Back on Earth, he had resigned himself to their engagement although he couldn't quite erase the ache in his heart. He had convinced himself that at least he still had Sam's friendship, and they still worked together every day. But now, watching her ambivalent attitude towards her fiancee, hope sprang up inside him even as he tried to quash it. Here on Beta, there was no longer anything preventing them pursuing something more.

Except Pete.

He thought back to when Sam had been debating whether to accept Pete's ring- now how many women took over two weeks to make a decision like that?- and how surprised he had been when she had all but asked Jack's permission. 'What if things had been different between us', she had tentatively questioned him.

And that first night on Beta, she had sought him out and not Pete. He thought back to the comfort he had felt in his heart when he had awoken in the dark of that first long, strange night on Beta and found Sam nestled warmly at his side, sleeping curled up between him and Daniel. Yes, things could get quite interesting, Jack thought as he too said good night and went to get some much needed rest.

* * *

As the weeks went by, the weather became increasingly adverse. The small population of scientists who had been living on Beta over the past few years informed O'Neill and Riley that the winters at this latitude on Beta were harsher than those of the lower 48 on Earth, and the colonists were put to work stockpiling food, fuel and fortifying the tent shelters to keep out the cold as much as possible. 

Sam and her team of scientists had succeeded in installing an iris of sorts and getting it back to proper working order. It couldn't be monitored the way the Gate on Earth had been, as the Gate on Beta was out in the open, but when the day came for their first attempt at contacting another world, Sam set up laptop connections to the iris on a makeshift desk wired directly into the existing DHD. First contact had been put off much longer than orginally expected, for the wary group of Earthlings was not willing to risk any chance that the Goa'uld might discover there whereabouts.

The planet chosen for first contact was an Asgard protected world where they had previously encountered the Sentinel, a mysterious machine that guarded all Gate travel on that world. From here, they reasoned, they might be able to contact the Asgard.

Everyone was anxious to know Earth's final fate. Jack, being the primary contact for the Asgard, went through the Gate with Daniel and a police officer named Ben Guthrie who spent all his time pestering Sam and her team for facts about Gate travel. Jack liked Guthrie's enthusiasm and attitude and had thus brought him along, recognizing his potential and wanting to give him some off-world experience.

They had been gone for two Beta days and nights before returning with the news that they had successfully talked with Thor.

The swoosh of an incoming wormhole activating the Gate for the first time since the evacuation was a bit frightening for the Beta community, and it was with a sigh of relief that Sam announced the incoming iris code was the General's. The three men stepped through the Gate to a large gathering of onlookers, many cheering this first completed mission. Jack looked around with a strange expression.

"What's all this?" he mused mostly to himself. Daniel and Guthrie just smiled and enjoyed their moment in the limelight.

"Welcome back!" Chief Riley and Sam greeted them.

After a brief exchange, Jack fastened his eyes on Sam and motioned for her to accompany him. He walked through the crowd to the mess tent for something hot to drink.

Sam got a cup of tea and sat down with him. Daniel and Guthrie were just behind them.

"What did you find out, General?" Sam said quietly.

"The Asgard are aware of the attack on Earth. They regret not being available to intervene, yada yada... the Goa'uld didn't just take over Earth. They bombed it to oblivion, it's uninhabitable. They must really hate us."

Sam sat in stunned silence digesting this news. Daniel and Guthrie listened from across the tent, watching the news sink in.

"Are you going to tell everyone what you found out?"

"I don't know if that would be such a good idea right now. I don't think our people here are ready for this just yet," O'Neill observed as he sipped his coffee.

"Ready for what?"

Catherine had come in and was pouring herself some hot tea and had overheard the tail end of their conversation. The elderly woman moved in behind Jack's chair and put a maternal hand on his shoulder. Jack reached up and covered her hand with his own.

"Have I mentioned yet how very grateful I am to have you here with us, Catherine?" He looked up at her to find her smiling gently down on him.

"Well, now you have. And I feel the same about all of you. Ready for what?" She persisted.

"I just got some really bad news from Thor. About Earth."

"Oh." Catherine sat down apprehensively. "I think I can guess, but tell me anyway."

"There's nothing left. The Goa'uld have made it uninhabitable."

Saying it again hurt just as much as hearing it for the first time.

"They're going to want to know what we learned from Thor," Jack said, gesturing with his head towards the outside of the tent. "How can I tell them this, after all we've already been through?" Jack closed his eyes tiredly.

"Jack, I don't think many of us have any illusions about what has happened to Earth. Nothing will be gained by withholding the truth."

Catherine was wise as usual.

"I just don't want to be the one that has to tell them."

He stood up slowly.

"Here goes," he murmured, summoning the courage he had gained from their support and going out to report to the others. It would be a long, dark night.

* * *

Sam slapped her hand explosively on the lab table in front of her as the power went out for the third time that week. The generators ran on various fuels they had found on the planet, but not as reliably as they did on diesel fuel from Earth. Since that was now long since depleted, the scientists put up with the fits and starts that occurred with the various new sources of Beta fuel, but not graciously. 

Sam ran a hand through her already unruly hair and began pacing the lab. She was working on creating surface maps of the planet from data being gathered by her scientific team. Having never done much mapping before was frustrating enough for her, but the power outages were pushing her into a truly scary mood.

Sam suddenly closed up her blank laptop and pulled a coat from her chair. She wanted to go for a walk, as fast and as far as she get away from here. She plowed out the door, barely closing it behind her, and set out for the ridge to the east of camp. There was a small, very lovely lake on the other side of the ridge where she had found tranquility from time to time.

After walking for over a half hour, Sam began to realize it was colder than she had anticipated. It was now well into the Beta winter. Her nose felt almost numb and each breath burned a bit as she gulped in air during her ascent of the ridge.

But the vistas opening up around her as she climbed were worth the discomfort. Beta, at least in their little corner of the planet, was truly beautiful. The vibrant colors of different rock formations were mixed in ribbon-like layers in every direction.

As she crested the ridge, the lake was suddenly spread out below her in azure stillness. Sam realized she was already much more settled inside, from the combination of physical exertion and the effect of her surroundings. She sat down at the top, content to go no further, and drank in the solitary beauty around her.

As she stared absentmindedly at the lake, she suddenly jerked to full alert as she watched three human figures come meandering out of the woods on the other side and approach the lake. Even from this distance, she was certain they were not from the Beta colony. They moved about with such unguarded ease she was pretty sure they had no idea what was on the other side of the ridge she was sitting on, so she crouched down and shimmied backwards down her side of the slope. She took another furtive look to try and memorize as many details as she could about the strangers. She then headed back the way she had come, running where she could, anxious to report this development to Jack and Riley.

"How is it that in the three years the Beta site has been in existence, and with all the teams we have sent out exploring since this site was first surveyed, we have never seen any sign of indigenous people before?" Catherine asked as the six friends sat discussing this latest development in Sam's lab.

Teal'C, Daniel, Jack and Pete were standing around the table where Sam and Catherine sat, pondering what to do next.

"Maybe they aren't very many of them, and maybe this is a group of explorers who are far away from their home," Daniel postulated.

"Why don't I take a team of my men to see if we can track them?" Pete suggested.

"I will accompany you," added Teal'C. His tracking skills were far more advanced than anyone's from Earth.

"Let me discuss it with Riley, and I'll get back to you," Jack said pensively, looking at Pete and Teal'C.

"We don't know what you might be walking into. It would appear that we really don't know as much about this planet as we thought we did."

"Well, we should at least go over to the lake and look at the tracks we can find while they are still fresh." Pete persisted.

"Teal'C, go with Pete and do that. Arm yourselves well and stay sharp. Report back ASAP." Jack was now in command mode.

"Let's go," Pete said in answer, and the two men left the lab building. Daniel thought for a minute and followed them.

"Wait up, I'm coming!" He called, unable to resist a chance to learn about a new culture.

"Sam, wanna come with me to the mess?" Jack asked. He looked pointedly at her, and she knew he had something on his mind to discuss.

"Sure," Sam agreed. "Catherine, I'll be back to finish that UAV data analysis in a bit."

"It's okay, Sam, I'm enjoying doing it by myself. Take a break, girl!" Catherine didn't even look up as she enthusiastically worked on the screen before her.

"You scientists are all the same," Jack teased.

In the mess tent, Sam held a steaming cup of tea between her freezing fingers. Jack sat across from her, playing compulsively with an empty cup.

"Sam, the next time you need to get some air, I want you to get someone to go with you. I'm not trying to be your daddy or anything, I just think we can't afford to get too comfortable here yet. You can always ask me, you know. In fact, I want you to. I've been stir crazy lately."

"Alright." Sam agreed succinctly.

"Huh? That's it? Alright?"

"You were expecting a fight, weren't you? Look, I'm sorry I've been so difficult to get along with lately. I'm just out of sorts I guess. That's why I walked up there alone- to clear my head."

"Did it work?"

"No, not after I uncovered a whole new can of worms to worry about!" Sam chuckled.

"No offense, but why have you been out of sorts? I mean, anything aside from the obvious, that we're on a new, basically undeveloped planet, can never get back to Earth, no cable, no big screen TV's, no fast food?"

Sam smiled at him for a second, then her face grew serious and she looked at her feet. "Back on Earth, I thought I had everything in my life figured out. Pretty arrogant of me, huh? My life now bears no resemblance to what it used to be. I haven't told you this, but I broke my engagement to Pete a few days after we got here. He agreed with me pretty quickly, too. I mean, what does that even mean anymore, to be engaged? Everything we enjoyed doing together back on Earth is gone. We have nothing in common here. I don't know what to think or feel..." Sam's voice tapered off into silence.

Jack watched her soberly for a minute.

"Sounds like you need to give yourself time, Carter, and don't sweat it," Jack said gently, as he stood and stretched his long frame and sighed loudly.

"This," he gestured around himself universally, "is more than anyone should have to go through. And I'd say you're coping better than most."

Sam looked up at him with a new understanding in her eyes.

"Thanks, Jack. Really."

"Anytime, Sam. Hey, are you hungry? Why don't you come grab an MRE with me?" Jack said hopefully.

"MRE...yum! Now that's an offer I can't refuse," Sam joked.

By the next morning, Daniel, Pete and Teal'C had followed the footprints near the lake back over a steep, rocky tableland to a large level clearing. Here the footprints disappeared. Gone, as if the people making the tracks had just vanished into the air.

A faint circular pattern surrounded the last set of prints.

Pete was totally mystified, but Daniel and Teal'C knew immediately what they were looking at. Daniel glumly explained to Pete that the people they had been tracking had been transported to a spaceship using Goa'uld ring technology.

"We must report this to base immediately," Teal'C urged anxiously. "We may already be too late."

"Agreed."

The three turned and hurried back the way they had come, fear freezing their hearts as they desperately tried to reach the colony before the alien ship found it first.

* * *

Jack found Sam working at the DHD, trying to figure out how to remove the burned out crystals within. Replacing them was a whole different project, and Sam wasn't even ready to think about that. She was lying on her back, her face partially obscured beneath the DHD panel that she had finally managed to open. 

"How's it going, Carter?" Jack asked loudly from a good distance away, not wanting to startle her. Good men had been badly hurt that way. He came closer, trying to see around her body that was blocking his view of the inside of the panel.

"I've reached the crystals, but the burned ones are kinda melted to their sockets," Sam said grumpily. "I should have known that hot-wiring the iris into the DHD was too risky. This is bad, isn't it?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

"It's bad for Beta, bad for us, if we can't get the Gate to open," Sam ranted. "And on top of that, we can't monitor incoming, although I think other Gates should be able to dial us. Although they'd just be stuck here with us if they decide to come through."

She pulled away from the DHD and jumped up to give it a kick.

"That's gonna hurt you more than it, you know," Jack observed casually.

"You're right," she grimaced, rubbing her toes.

Sam wanted to scream. Only once before had she seen a DHD explode the way this one had a few hours ago after her team had tried to open a wormhole to one of the safe planets on their list.

When Teal'C had been trapped in the SGC Stargate several years ago, they had removed the master control crystal from the Russian DHD they borrowed and the thing had blown up. Sam had thus concluded that the master control crystal in this DHD may have been faulty, but she would never know for sure. All the crystals were now fried, with little hope of obtaining replacements.

She closed her eyes as tears threatened to spill out.

"C'mere." Jack took her firmly by the shoulders and walked her away from the DHD and the Gate.

"You need a break. Let's go for a walk, then you can come back to it."

Jack tried to sound commanding but inside he was holding his breath. He had no experience dealing with an emotionally unstable Carter.

"Well, ok, but I need to get back to work on this soon- all of Beta are depending on me."

"Of course they are! C'mon. Walk, walk..." he encouraged.

They walked around the perimeter of base camp, staying just out of the well traveled areas so Sam could decompress.

"Are you happy here, sir?" Sam asked unexpectedly as they slowly picked their way around the rocky edges of the camp. They sat down on a flat topped boulder, their legs dangling a bit over the side.

"Happy? Uh, I'm a little out of practice at happy, Carter. But it beats the alternative. This is a good planet, Beta is. What about you, Sam?" Jack could sense there was more lurking beneath the question.

"Not yet. It's still all so hard, and I miss Dad and Mark and Sue and their kids so much. We've all lost way too much. But I think I could be happy, some day," she reflected quietly. "I'm really glad I'm here with you, and the team. You're my family now, you know."

Sam looked up at him with a serious and uncertain gaze. Jack smiled back.

"You, Teal'c and Daniel have been my family for a long while. Not a day goes by I don't think about Earth. We'll always miss it and think about it, every day. But I'm moving on. So are you. We're all starting to get back on our feet. And we're alive, and we're in this together."

Jack paused, wanting to say more, but not sure how to say it. Instead, he laid his hand on Sam's knee, trying to convey what he could not yet put into words.

A sudden realization that someone was rapidly approaching through the underbrush above them on the slope caused them to jump to their feet, weapons ready. Daniel and his team burst out from the brush, running breathlessly. Daniel saw Jack and Sam first and threw his hands up.

"Don't shoot! It's us! The people you saw by the lake, Sam? They were ringed up to a ship. We found the tracks." Daniel was panting for breath.

Jack's face registered sudden dread. "That means we're in a state of emergency as of right now," he ordered. "Daniel, Teal'C- go put the base on alert, get every person armed- and let's hope it's only one ship. Then we might have a snowball's chance of shooting it down."

But before they could move to comply with Jack's order, a silvery, oblong spaceship sailed smoothly over the ridge, gleaming in the sunlight, to hover directly over base camp. They all looked up simultaneously at the gigantic craft.

"We're too late," exclaimed Pete brokenly.

But the others wore grins from ear to ear.

"Prometheus!" They chorused, simultaneously crying and cheering.  
"What the-" Pete started.

Rings shot down from the motionless ship and in seconds four men had materialized in the midst of the colony. General Hammond, Jacob Carter, President Hayes and the Secretary of State stood looking around at the ragtag colonists now beginning to swarm into the clearing to see what was happening. Sam went wild with glee, exuberantly hugging everyone in her immediate vicinity and then running to greet her father. Daniel whooped and followed her down the slope, Pete stumbling after them in a daze.

Jack's heart was bursting as he surveyed the scene unfolding before him.

It was unbelievable, incredible.

Somehow, against all odds, the Prometheus had survived.

The whole colony was streaming out of tents and buildings to see what was going on as Prometheus slowly landed just beyond the Stargate. Most of them had no knowledge of the Prometheus, Earth's one and only spaceship capable of hyperspace travel. Their mood slowly changed from fear to incredulity as they began recognizing the President.

As the unbelievably huge ship settled completely on the ground, lower hatch doors opened and the crew began exiting along with many civilians they had managed to rescue. The voice of the colony was slowly building to an ecstatic roar as it became apparent that many more people from Earth had escaped certain doom. For many minutes, happy chaos reigned as the newcomers were hugged and greeted with shouts and tears.

Sam pulled her Dad aside to sit with her and tell her what had happened and how they had managed to escape. Before long, Jack, Daniel, and Teal'C had joined their little circle and soon many were avidly listening to the story of the Prometheus.

The afternoon went by quickly. It was an amazing tale of near misses and lucky coincidences. The Prometheus had stealth technology borrowed from the Asgard that allowed the spaceship to fly undetected as they had landed several times to pick up survivors, beginning with those members of the government who had made it to Mount Weather's sturdy underground fortress in the Shenandoah Valley foothills west of Washington, DC.

As they had headed out to space, the Tok'Ra had intercepted them and hidden them from the Goa'uld on the planet which their base was currently located. With the coordinates of the Beta base in the possession of the commander of the Prometheus, Jacob Carter had come with the crew and survivors as the Tok'Ra representative, anxious to find the Beta base and see if his daughter had survived. They thought they had surveyed most of the temperate portions of the planet, searching for the Beta outpost, and had actually put the ship down just beyond sight of the base. That was when Sam had seen a few crew members poking around the lake.

Sam and Daniel had a good time picking good-naturedly on the Prometheus' scientists for not knowing how close they were to a base that wasn't even hidden.

The two Carters sat next to one another the whole evening, Sam often reaching out to touch her father's sleeve as if she was reassuring herself this was not a dream. Jacob smiled back at her just as often as they got caught up on all that had transpired while they'd been apart. They laughed and grieved in turn as they talked about anything and everything.

A lull in their conversation caused them to notice all the other groups gathered here and there, made up of colonists and passengers from the Prometheus, for everyone on Beta was anxious to listen to any news of Earth, even the grim story brought to them by the newly arrived refugees.

"Sam," her father mused, "you are always welcome to come back with me and live with the Tok'Ra."

Jacob was taking in the rough hewn flavor of the settlement around him. He looked at his daughter with concern in his eyes.

"I'm staying with these people, Dad. We've been through a lot together. And I know it doesn't look like much, but we managed to get a lot of technology from the SGC through the Gate before we had to shut down the worm hole. I'm pretty proud of what's been accomplished here, and what will be accomplished."

"Then you're right, you need to stay and be part of it. I'm just worried about you, that's all. A father's right."

Jacob stood up and stretched. "Well, I'm going to get some sleep. Do you want to bunk on Prometheus tonight?"

"No, Dad, I'm fine. See you tomorrow morning. You'll get a good night's sleep here- the length of the day here is a lot longer than Earth's was. We've all grown accustomed to it, but when we first got here- well, you'll see when you wake up and it's still pitch black outside! Come find me in the mess tomorrow morning, or I'll come find you- I need your help with some technical glitches around here. I've got a DHD that needs emergency surgery."

Sam winked, kissed her father's cheek and wandered off. Jacob watched her go, his heart content for the first time in months, and went back to the ship.

Sam walked determinedly back to the large knot of people near the bonfire started by the Beta colonists to warm the night as everyone talked. She could see the same lost, overwhelmed look on the faces of the newcomers that she had seen and worn herself back in the first days of the colony.

Comparing them to the ragged, sunburned Beta colonists, she saw something she wouldn't have otherwise noticed: in spite of the dust and wear and tear, the colonists looked strong, settled, even self-assured. Something was different between the newcomers and those who now lived here, and it was a life-affirming, hopeful difference, one that made the many months of struggle seem somehow less arduous.

Even as she mused on all that she saw around her, Sam was becoming more and more aware that her driving focus was simply to find Jack. She wanted to share this momentous event with him, watch his reactions, see it through his eyes. It was suddenly very important to her to be near him, and that dawning realization felt uncomfortable to her orderly, scientific mind.

He was too important to her, too connected to her, in a way that scared her. She had never felt such a connection with Pete.

Sam stopped suddenly as her conscious mind caught up with her feelings.

What was going on?

She turned around, confused, having decided to just go back to her and Catherine's tent and get some sleep, when Jack's voice stopped her, and she turned around to find him walking up behind her.

"Carter!" Jack loped over to her, smiling widely. "I've been looking all over for you. Where's Dad?"

"He's gone to bed. I've been looking for you, too. Where were you?" Sam was captivated by the excitement in his eyes.

"Talking to the President...I've always wanted to say that," he joked. "Poor guy's pretty out of it, though. They all are. All their familiar points of reference are gone. And I don't think they expected to find the Beta site looking this rough, like something out of a Davy Crockett movie."

Sam chuckled with him, then grew serious.

"It must be quite a shock, even after all they've already seen, to realize this is what's left of Earth."

Sam closed the distance between them and took his hand in hers. "It doesn't look so bad to me, any more. There's a future here."

"You're right, Sam. Our future. Our hope. They'll see it soon enough. They need time to adjust, just like we did, like we still do."

"I know how to fix the DHD," Sam announced in one of her characteristically abrupt changes of topic.

"Huh? I mean, how?" Jack asked in a confused tone.

"Well, the Prometheus runs on crystal technology, so for the short term we can use some of its crystals to repair the DHD. And later, the Tok'Ra can bring us more crystals. Problem solved."

"Well, that explains why you're in such a good mood," Jack observed. "You got your doohickey problem sorted out."

"That's it all right. Having the Prometheus show up helped my mood some too, though," Sam teased.

"No kidding. C'mon, Sam, sit with me for a while by the fire. I don't think any of these folks are going to call it a night any time soon."

The clearing was loud and full of celebratory activity. Jack was still holding her by the hand so he pulled her over to a low stone bench by the fire and they sank down to the ground, leaning back against it.

Sam pillowed her head on his shoulder.

"Tired?" Jack asked, wrapping strong arms around her.

"Very, but I want to stay here a bit longer. With you," she added shyly, snuggling into the warmth of his embrace.

"Good," Jack agreed in a whisper as they settled down further and closed their eyes. His head slipped onto hers.

Sam was having a very hard time keeping her eyes open, but there was something she wanted very much to tell Jack, now that she had figured it out for herself. She fumbled around in her mind, trying to put the feelings into words.

"I don't know why it was so important to me to find you and share this night with you, but it was, and I just had to," she started. "As happy as I am about the Prometheus arriving, it just wasn't enough until I saw the joy on your face, too."

Sam cringed as she finished, feeling she had sounded ridiculously mushy. But Jack's reaction wiped away her awkwardness as his arms suddenly tightened around her.

"Same here. I was looking all over for you. I saw you and your Dad talking, and I watched you two together earlier. I'm really happy for you, Sam."

"What about you? Are you happy?" Sam asked, echoing her question from earlier that day.

"I am right now," he answered after a moment of thought, and the weight of his head cushioned on top of hers grew a bit heavier as he settled in further and yawned contently.

"Yup, I'm happy."

Sam's heart filled with warmth.

"Me, too."


	2. Staying Alive

Winter had set in for real on Beta.

The tents set up by the survivors from Earth in the first few desperate weeks since the exodus were nowhere near enough protection from the brutal weather now upon them. Construction on permanent dwellings was proceeding at a snail's pace, when the weather permitted, all around the original research buildings that made up the heart of the Beta colony, buildings that had been built by the air force for scientific study years before the invasion of Earth.

Inventing ways to stay warm, fed and alive were currently the priorities of the new colony.

Jack and Teal'C had come up with a way to double the tents on top of each other to increase their insulation, stuffing the space between the two layers with anything that kept warmth in. This reduced the number of tents actually up and in use, but it didn't matter since a tent without the extra insulation was unlivable anyway. The floor of these tent structures was about two feet lower than the surrounding plain as the colonists had found it warmer to dig a pit and sleep down inside its deep walls. The ground was hard and rocky, difficult to dig but extremely stable once the pit was in place.

The Prometheus had been temporarily pressed into service as a residence and housed a surprisingly large number of grateful Earthlings.

The popular mess tent was not like the residential tents, but more like a huge hall, with chimneyed openings in the roof for the numerous fire pits that burned constantly, warming the eating areas.

Here Jack was huddled in a thick blanket draped over his well-layered body as he nursed a cup of hot tea and tried to fix his jammed handgun in time for the next hunting foray. Outside a strong storm was battering the settlement, and Jack had long ago decided he would remain in the mess until the wind died down.

Sam burst through the mess tent door, fighting to refasten the closure as quickly as possible. Her teeth were chattering and snow flakes clung to her hair. Her hands were so cold even in gloves that she wasn't doing well at the refastening process.

Jack dropped his blanket and hurried over to finish the job for her, then wrapped a strong arm around her shaking form and briskly rubbed her arm and shoulders.

"What are you doing out in this storm?"

"Hungry," Sam chattered.

"Come sit down. Want some bread and tea? They have some fresh that was just baked."

"Sounds great."

Sam was shivering less now and beginning to recover from her brief exposure to the storm outside. She gratefully accepted the food and drink from Jack as he reclaimed his blanket and sat down next to her.

"Hurry up and eat that so we can sit back to back. I need to warm up some more," Jack instructed.

Sam sipped the tea, actually a concoction of local flora that tasted nothing like tea, and wolfed down the bread.

"I'm really more bored than hungry. My tentmates are singing all the summer camp songs they can remember. And they know a lot."

The faint echoes of some very raucus singing could be heard over the howling wind.

She licked her fingers and sucked down more tea. The mess tent wasn't full, but there were a fair number of small groups and couples situated around the room. There was absolutely no privacy anywhere, but being here was better than the crowded sleeping tents. She sighed a contented sigh and stretched her legs out in front of her.

"Okay, you're done, back to back, let's go," O'Neill ordered and swung around to jam his back against hers. He then wrapped his blanket as best he could around both of them so their necks were swathed and their heads were back to back.

Sam began to slowly giggle.

"What?" O'Neill demanded, smiling broadly at their ludicrous position.

She surprised him by worming around under the blanket and wrapping her arms around his torso, her front to his back.

"I like this better," she smiled.

"You're a genius, Sam. This is much warmer."

He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder and raised his eyebrow ala Teal'C, eliciting another giggle.

Sam gave a contented sigh and wrapped her arms tighter around Jack's sturdy frame, relishing the way his body radiated heat.

Since the triumphant and unexpected arrival of the Prometheus just before winter had set in, the mood of the colony had changed. The people seemed to accept that this existence was their life now. Old roles and identities were seeping away as the new reality of who they were on Beta took on form and shape.

The change had affected Sam and Jack's relationship too.

Gradually, imperceptibly, all that had once kept them apart was evaporating and the strength of the emerging connection between them was undeniable. They inevitably found ways to work together on their projects and chores. Jack was constantly fixing something of Sam's or bringing her a bite to eat.

His attentiveness did not go unnoticed in the small, close-knit colony and they were the subject of many speculative discussions.

Sam leaned up against Jack and closed her eyes as she pressed her cheek to his.

"Ready to go back to your tent yet, Carter?"

"I'm thinking this is a better tent."

"This is my tent."

"It is not," Sam snorted.

"I've decided you can stay," Jack granted magnanimously.

"Well, I've decided just maybe I will."

She scooted down, pulling the blanket and Jack with her, so that they were lying face to face in their snug cocoon of blankets and coats. Jack's slow, confident smile morphed into a searching, unguarded gaze as if he could see into her heart through her eyes.

Sam could hardly look back at him, the intensity was so overwhelming.

Suddenly uncomfortable with his own feelings, Jack broke eye contact.

"Jack," Sam protested, pulling his chin up with a delicate touch.

Cautiously, tentatively, he looked up again. They leaned in at the same moment and their lips met with such sweetness, tears stung Sam's eyelids.

He pulled back, not quite ready for the wash of emotions he was feeling, hoping she wasn't hurt by his reaction.

"Good night, Jack," Sam whispered, closing her eyes and snuggling against his neck.

Jack smiled.

She could see his hesitancy and accepted him without complication.

He wasn't hesitating because he didn't love her.

He'd loved Sam for years.

He was just so out of practice at this relationship stuff that it scared him.

The fact that she realized that and was okay with it made him love her even more.

"G'night, Sam. Warm enough?"

"Very."

Both were soon fast asleep, safe, warm and at peace in their own secret world.

The next day brought an icy calm, with bright skies and incredibly cold temperatures.

Jack was up already, talking to Daniel and Riley in the corner of the mess tent as they decided where to search for fuel today.

The Betans were getting very creative in their quest to maintain their fuel supply. Besides the generosity of the few worlds that they had allowed to know of their existence, the colonists used anything that burned to stay warm.

In the ironic dichotomy that was beginning to define Beta, they had several naquadah generators and a plentiful supply of naquadah. The Prometheus and the labs ran on these reverse-engineered generators brought through the Stargate from the SGC. But it would take time to rig up an infrastructure that could provide energy for light and heat. The fuel for that came from the daily, backbreaking work of gathering firewood and anything burnable.

The most pressing need right now was food.

Jack was organizing an expedition to hunt game in the mountain range just beyond the lake which bordered the settlement. A large animal that looked like a cross between a mammoth and a rhinoceros was common to this area and was very good eating. Their goal was to track and bring down a few of these animals and then radio Prometheus to come pick them up.

The trip would also provide the small group with welcome relief from the confines of base camp.

"Okay, spread out and circle around that way," O'Neill gestured toward the valley opening where the animals would have to go to escape .

"I'll go spook them."

Jack slipped off to get into position to execute his plan.

Sam climbed a rock outcropping near the mouth of the valley and settled in to wait for the show. Riley was already across the narrow gap hidden by the edge of the cliff opposite Sam, and Daniel was not far from Sam, ready to shoot.

It all happened quickly. Jack shot once into the air and the noise reverberated throughout the canyon, instantly causing the huge animals to startle and begin lumbering their way out towards the rest of the team. Daniel and Riley both easily downed a beast, but the rest were gone before Sam or Jack could fire a shot.

The two beasts lay unmoving on the valley floor, but the four approached with caution, guns still ready. Riley poked one with his foot, then the other.

"I think we did it," he crowed. "Hail the Prometheus, Sam."

Jack walked closer to one of the impressive animals, drawn by its strange appearance.

"This thing has four eyes," he said in amazement, as he poked at it with his foot. Riley, his own curiosity raised, walked to the other one to see for himself.

From further up the valley, a low roar was all the warning he had before another of the creatures unexpectedly charged him from behind a long stretch of tangled brush.

"Look out!" Jack managed to cry out to the others before he jumped mightily to try and throw himself out of the animal's path.

Shots rang out and the animal, hit and now badly wounded, turned and headed for Jack again, this time ramming him full in the chest before finally giving in to its injuries and collapsing, partially trapping Jack underneath.

He had hit his head, hard, and the world was fast graying out around him. He fought to wriggle himself out from under the crushing weight of the dead beast before he lost the battle to remain conscious.

He couldn't breathe.

He couldn't breathe.

Pain exploding in his brain.

Roaring noise.

Warm mouth on his, warm, wonderful air filling his lungs.

"Jack! Wake up! Breathe!"

The warm mouth was back. He knew those lips- if this was dying, it wasn't half bad.

"Come on! Come on!"

Reflexively he gulped air deep into his lungs.

The darkness receded a little but the murky soup that was his mind kept him from responding.

"Open your eyes!"

He tried, he really did, because she sounded really ticked off at him, but his eyelids felt like steel plates welded shut.

The world around him reeled as his arms and legs were dragged off the ground. They were carrying him somewhere. Somewhere with ground that clanged loudly as they walked on it.

Pain. Lots of it.

The dark overtook him again.

* * *

Sam brushed his forehead lightly with her fingertips.

The Prometheus had long since landed back at base and the meat was being prepared out in the open in spite of the weather by a crowd of merrymakers.

Jack had been carried aboard the Prometheus and, still out cold, was lying on a cushion of blankets off to one side in a cargo bay.

She could imagine the first of the steaks cooking outside and the mere idea was making her stomach growl. It had been a long time since she'd eaten. But she didn't want to leave Jack right now.

"Sam, why don't I get you some food?" Jacob had been standing in the shadows watching her for some time.

"Okay. Thanks, Dad."

Sam smiled but didn't look up as Jacob moved closer to his daughter. His eyes went back and forth from her face, intently focused, to the unconscious man she was watching over.

"How long has this been going on?" Jacob asked quietly.

"What?" She responded distractedly.

"You know what I mean."

"I'm not sure, Dad. I just know I want to be with him."

"You love him."

Sam looked at her father.

"Yeah. I think I've been in love with him for a long time. But it wasn't allowed, so I closed it off. I closed it off so well that I didn't realize Pete was second choice until..."

"...until the rules suddenly didn't apply anymore, and you had a choice again."

Jacob laid a hand on her shoulder, smiling at her when she looked up at him.

"I'll be right back with some roast beast."

Jacob patted her shoulder and walked away.

Sam couldn't stop smiling to herself after Jacob left. She wasn't sure, but that sounded a lot like Jacob approved.

A groan from Jack snapped her into action. She leaned over him as he began slowly coming to.

"Jack? Can you hear me?"

Sam took his hand and nervously rubbed his fingers.

"Jack?"

"Can't breathe," Jack finally spoke.

"What's wrong?"

Sam was suddenly alarmed as she leaned in closer.

"I need some more mouth to mouth," he answered, with a weak grin.

Sam sat back up, laughing with relief.

"You do not. You remember that?"

"You betcha."

Jack started to sit up then, but with a groan he quickly realized that that was a painful proposition.

"I wouldn't move much just yet, Jack. Your chest is one huge bruise. And your head is going to hurt, you went down hard."

"I've got a thick skull."

Jack looked more alert now, and his voice was stronger.

"Everybody else okay?"

"They are, and we got three of the animals. The food should last for several days, at least."

Jacob arrived with two plates of bread and meat. Sam took one of the plates from him and sat down next to Jack on his bed.

"Do you want any?" Sam asked him.

"I don't think so."

He looked pale and his eyes were closed again.

She reached out and pulled the blanket up snug around his neck before beginning her meal. Jacob sat on the floor next to them both as he ate silently, his eyes also on Jack, trying to assess his condition.

"Samantha."

Sam jumped. As much as she liked Selmac it always took her by surprise when she surfaced.

"Selmac!"

"Since Jacob seems reluctant to say anything, I wish to tell you that he admires O'Neill greatly. And that he believes nobody is good enough for you, but he and I are both glad to see an attachment growing between you and O'Neill."

"Selmac, and Dad, 'cause I know you're listening, I'm just taking things one day at a time. I don't think Jack is ready for a serious relationship. I don't know if he'll ever be. But for nowI just like being with him. Please don't go reading more into it, Selmac."

"As you wish, Samantha." His head bowed and Jacob was back.

"I'm going back through the Gate to the Tok'Ra home world tomorrow, Sam. But I'll be back soon."

Jacob wanted to ask her to come along with him for a visit, to get her out of this cold for a few days, but he knew she wouldn't come.

She was committed to Beta.

And to Jack, whether she would admit or not.

Sam ended up spending the night curled up on the metal floor of the Prometheus near Jack, both of them cushioned with an assortment of blankets and pillows. The food was solid and warm inside her and it felt good to be full.

Stay warm.

Stay fed.

Stay alive.

This mantra would govern their lives, reducing them to the simplest terms, for many months and years to come.


	3. Sweet Reflections

Jack woke in the darkness of the cargo hold, lit only by the green glow of the emergency lights left on at night. He was instantly assaulted by pain. Between the bump on the back of his head and the stabbing catch of his bruised ribs, he hurt everywhere. A dull ache in his stomach reminded him that it had been a long time since he had last eaten. 

With difficulty Jack sat up slowly, gingerly touching the back of his head and wincing in pain as he breathed. A momentary panic born of disorientation shot through him.

"Sam?" Jack called hoarsely.

"Right here," Sam answered immediately, though his voice had awoken her from a deep slumber.

She stumbled to her knees and was at his side in one floppy movement.

"How do you feel?"

"I've been better. Is there water?"

"Sure, just a minute."

Sam stretched and stood up, trying to get her bearings in the dim hold.

By the time Sam returned with water and food, Jack was up on his feet, walking around slowly and testing his limitations.

Sam placed the meal on the floor near the makeshift bed and watched him sharply, ready to come to his aid if he faltered.

"Come sit down, Jack," Sam urged and motioned towards the plate and canteen.

As he eased himself back down on his bedroll, Sam slipped her arm under his to lend support. Finally seated again, he let out his breath with a hiss.

"I don't think I'll be doing that again for a little while." Jack's face was pinched with pain.

"Drink," Sam ordered as she opened the canteen. Jack took it from her and drank deeply. She handed him some pain medication as well.

"Now eat," she went on.

"Is this from that big one that fell on me?" Jack asked as he chewed the cold meat with a vengeance. Sam just smiled and shrugged her shoulders, glad to see him finally eating.

When he finished she took the empty plate and canteen and put them behind her, noting with satisfaction that Jack looked much more at ease.

"You should lie back down; it's a while yet 'til morning," Sam suggested with a hand on his shoulder.

"I've been lying down too long. Sit up with me a while?"

Sam nodded and gently settled down next to him.

"Was Jacob here earlier?"

"Yes. We sat here with you until you regained consciousness. Dad's returning to the Tok'Ra base in the morning."

Jack's face grew serious and a little melancholy. He reached over and touched the back of her hand.

"You'd be better off going with him, Sam," Jack said.

"Well, that's not an option for me. Beta is my home now."

"You know I don't want you to leave, but even with help from our allies this has been a rough existence. And it's going to get worse before it gets better."

"We could all leave and spread out among the planets of our allies. But we'd lose ourselves, Jack. Without the Beta colony Earth would be gone for good. I'm not letting that go; I'm not leaving Beta."

Sam teared up as she pictured Earth again in her mind, still unable to grasp that she would never see it again.

Jack's arm circled around her waist and he drew her closer to his side, his eyes tender as he watched her face. She wrapped her arms around him lightly, mindful of his painfully bruised body.

"What do you miss the most?" Sam asked wistfully.

"My truck," Jack responded without a second's hesitation.

Sam chuckled at the image of Jack driving his truck around Beta.

"How about you?"

"Chocolate."

"Ah."

Jack grinned to himself, having on many occasions seen evidence of Sam's love affair with all things chocolate.

Jack settled against the back wall of the cargo hold, pulling Sam into a slouch alongwith him.

"What's your favorite chocolate dessert?" Jack asked next.

Sam's eyes closed dreamily as her imagination took over.

"I have more than one favorite, actually."

"Go figure."

"My favorite of all favorites is chocolate chunk cheesecake. And I love, love, love hot fudge Sundaes when the fudge is really hot and gooey. And I wish I could have a big piece of my aunt's Chocolate Tornado Drizzle Cake."

"My favorite dessert is pumpkin pie. Pumpkin's best, but any pie will do."

"I thought cake was your favorite dessert."

"Oh. Well, I have a lot of favorites. Desserts, I mean."

"Okay, my turn to ask a question," Sam said.

"Which place do you miss the most?"

"That's easy. The cabin and the lake. In Minnesota."

Jack looked through his mind's eye as the images of his wilderness refuge came back in a kaleidoscope of memories.

"You?" Jack asked after a minute, playing with her hair.

"There was this dirt road, near the base of Pike's Peak, where I used to ride my bike. There were deer everywhere. Once in a while, if I sat very still, the deer would walk by so close I could just about reach out and touch them. Once I fell asleep there, and I woke up at dusk just as the stars were becoming visible. It was so incredible and so peaceful, like I was the only person on the planet."

Sam shifted in Jack's arms and looked away.

"All those years I spent wishing I was out in space, and the years we spent traveling to other worlds through the Stargate...I only wish I'd known what I had."

Sam's voice trailed off and they sat there silently, remembering.

Jack reached over and affectionately brushed her cheek with his fingertips.

"So let's make sure we don't make the same mistake here."

She looked at him now in amazement at his ability to bring light to her dark places.

"How do we do that?" She mused.

"First, you reinvent chocolate. You're the scientist, you can do it. I'll have to put some thought into how to build a truck, though."

"We could build a cabin out by the lake."

"Now you're talking."

Jack closed his eyes and Sam could see he was beginning to drift off.

She carefully moved over so he could lay down on the pallet to rest some more. She stood up, intending to leave and let him rest alone, but as she studied his sleepy face she realized this is where she most wanted, needed to be.

Sam took up her earlier position near him, leaning back against the cargo bay wall.

"Sam? Still here?" Jack mumbled groggily.

"Right here," she responded in a whisper, scooting a bit closer.

Jack blindly reached a hand out towards her voice.

"Here," she repeated, taking his calloused hand in hers.

"Okay. Good."

Sam smiled contentedly as she nestled down further, not really sleepy, but comfortable in the knowledge that there was no where else she would rather be. Not quite asleep, Jack, completely secure in the knowledge that she loved him, pulled her in closer and tucked her head protectively under his chin.

A few days later, Sam was back in one of the labs working with Catherine on some soil testing when Jack walked in and stood just inside the doorway, watching them with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, Catherine, Carter. Watcha doing?"

"Uh oh, Sam. He's bored. My memory tells me that Jack O'Neill can do a lot of damage when he's bored."

"Catherine, being around you is never boring," Jack shot back.

"Dirt? You're experimenting with dirt?"

Jack had almost got his hands on a test tube rack when Sam herded him back towards the doorway.

"You seem to be feeling better," she observed drily.

"Yes, much," Jack answered her. "Have you invented chocolate yet?"

"Not just yet."

"I see."

He pulled a package wrapped in a rag from behind his back and, refusing to let Sam touch it for the moment, brought it over to Catherine and laid it on the table in front of her.

"Here's a little something I found stashed away in the cargo storage containers."

Jack allowed Sam to unwrap it as Catherine watched curiously.

A lone Hershey bar, wrapped in foil and the traditional brown wrapper, lay before them. Jack looked triumphant.

"I thought maybe you could back-engineer it, Carter," Jack suggested smugly.

His teasing was lost on Sam, who stood staring at the chocolate, lost in her own world for the moment.

"It's—beautiful."

Catherine was staring too, with a greedy light in her eyes.

"Well, it's not getting any fresher, so just eat it. Enjoy."

Sam looked up at Jack, actual tears in the corner of her eyes.

"Wow, I really got to you, huh?" Jack exclaimed.

He was practically crowing with pride.

"Well, if you're just going to stand there..."

Jack carefully opened one end and broke offa small square for each woman, then proceeded to wrap the remainder of the bar back up tightly with the foil. He then fed each of 'his girls' their piece, watching their reactions with the greatest delight.

"Ohh."

"Wow."

"Delisshhous."

"Unbelievable."

"I love you," gushed Sam, tears now rolling down her cheeks.

"I know."

"Me too," sniffed Catherine, hugging the breath out of Jack.

"My turn," Sam protested, taking Catherine's place.

"Oww," Jack complained weakly, smiling broadly at the two women.

He kept his arms wrapped possessively around Sam, immensely enjoying their response to the chocolate bar.

"I think I'll hold on to this," Jack decided, pocketing the remnant, "And maybe you'll both be nicer the next time I pop in to the lab, hmmm?"

He let go of Sam and turned to leave the lab.

"Where are you going? Catherine, I think I'm going to take a little break. Be back later!"

Sam tagged after him like a lost puppy.

Some things were so worth groveling for.


	4. New Growth

Jack hurried out of his tent into the brisk morning air of Beta on his way to the Prometheus. General Hammond and President Hayes stood waiting for him in the main conference room as he rushed in.

"Thor!" Jack exclaimed with delight.

The diminutive alien was seated comfortably at the table on the Prometheus with that look of Asgard superiority.

Somehow, on any other being it would be condescending, but it just seemed fitting when it was Thor.

"It's good to see you!"

Jack shook his tiny grey hand carefully and sat down across from him.

"The Asgard send their greetings to the remnant of Earth. The T'auri have helped us greatly in the past. Now, we wish to help you as best we can."

"Great! What did you have in mind?"

All those present leaned forward expectantly, awaiting Thor's disclosure of why he had come through the Stargate.

Thor stood and pressed an Asgard transmitter that he held in his hand. A large, oblong container appeared before them, filling the table. Some of those present who were not familiar with Asgard technology gasped and shrank back.

"Within this chamber are seeds from your world representing thousands of plant species. We will leave one of our scientists to work with you to help you identify each species and begin to propagate them. We also have DNA from many of your animal species that we will clone and share with you when this world is ready to sustain them."

"Thor, how did you come to have such a large collection of species from Earth?" President Hayes asked curiously.

Jack grimaced to himself, not sure he wanted to hear Thor's explanation, but knowing he was going to hear it anyway.

"Our race has been studying Earth for many years."

That was the part Jack really didn't want to hear more about.

"We know much about your planet and its life forms. The Asgard are honored to be able to give back to you some of what has been lost."

"We are in your debt, Thor," Hayes responded gallantly.

"To which building shall we beam the container?"

At that, Catherine stepped out from her post near the back wall.

"I will show you," she said eagerly, leading Thor through the doorway and outside.

After they left, Jack stood.

"Does Sam know about this yet?" He asked George.

"No, but she should be told immediately. I don't have to tell you how important a gift like this is for Beta."

George was also standing, too excited to remain seated.

Jack turned and flew out the door almost before Hammond had finished his sentence.

Sam reacted much as Jack had thought she would; that is, she was ecstatic and chomping at the bit to open the container and see what the Asgard had collected from Earth. It didn't take her long to gather several of the other scientists to start the process of retrieving the specimens.

Daniel had heard of the commotion and was there too, avidly looking over Sam's shoulder at the contents of the storage pod.

Jack smiled, grabbing Daniel by the arm as he left with his orders from Catherine to start building greenhouses. There was plenty of wood, but glass would be a problem, he schemed to himself as he went to find Riley and Guthrie and ask for their help. Pete, Daniel, Teal'C... Jack was already organizing the effort in his mind as he strode away.

Two weeks later, four large greenhouses stood ready that were far above and beyond anything Jack and his men had originally imagined.

Thor had been back to visit, interested in their progress, and the Asgard had helped them install Asgard shield technology in the greenhouses, run by their naquadah generator, that took the place of glass; in fact, it was far superior. The buildings were near the lake for easy irrigation. The scientist's soil tests now came in handy as they prepared soil that would be friendly to Earthling plants.

"Tomato, green beans, corn, wheat," Catherine directed as she indicated to her work force which were to be planted where. It had taken round-the-clock research to match the Asgard's names for the various plant species with their own familiar titles. The scientists were beside themselves with joy to discover that the Asgard had managed to supply them with over 200 of Earth's major fruit and vegetable species.

The next weeks, months, and even years would now determine which of these plants would survive and flourish in their new world. The scientists overseeing the propagation and cultivation of these new plant populations took every aspect of their care very seriously, knowing how important each seed and seedling was to the health of the humans on Beta.

The second phase of the Asgard's gift would not be able to be initiated for a while, not until the plants from Earth had had a chance to get a good start. But it was what Sam and many others were most excited about. The DNA of many of Earth's animal species lay in stasis in the labs of the Asgard, who possessed the cloning technology to reproduce these species for life on Beta.

"Sam, you've got some plants growing like crazy over here. What are these?"

Daniel had been hanging around like a little kid at Christmas since the greenhouse projects had been started.

"That's sweet potato, Daniel. Can you test the PH of the soil for me?" Sam held out several test strips.

"How long before we can actually eat something we grow?" Daniel asked as he worked on testing the soil around the potatoes.

"It will be different for different plants. Those potatoes may take up to a year to grow large enough to produce tubers. How about helping me with this irrigation tubing? Somehow I got it tangled."

They worked together in companionable silence on the knotted line.

"Good morning," Jack's voice rang out as he stepped up behind Daniel and Sam.

Jack was chewing determinedly on a hunk of dried meat that looked really unappetizing.

"So when is the food going to be ready?"

Jack gestured with his meat strip at the seedlings growing in pale green rows all around them.

"Let's go to the mess tent, that's the only place there's any food for now," Sam said, casting a satisfied look around at 'her' plants.

She grabbed her parka up and wrapped it around her to prepare for the still artic air outside the protected greenhouses.

"Coming, Daniel?"

"I'll be along in a minute. I want to stay for a bit."

The emerging Earth plants held a fascination for everyone who saw them.

"C'mon, Sam," Jack urged, still hungry.

He led the way to the crowded mess tent. Smoke poured out of the oven chimneys as they ducked through the tent flap door and refastened it. Pete sat near the door on the floor chatting animatedly with one of the nurses from the SGC, who was practically sitting in his lap.

Sam got a strange twisting feeling in her stomach as she watched his face, happy and relaxed for the first time in months. Pete caught sight of Sam frozen near the doorway and waved her and Jack over, seemingly at ease in her presence as he lifted a hand from the girl's knee to wave at them.

'Samantha Carter,' she thought sternly to her piqued ego, 'you have no right to be anything but happy for Pete. Get over yourself.'

But even with the mental spanking Samantha was feeling that sense of rejection common to those who have moved on but don't really want their ex to move on, too.

Jack sat down next to Pete, clapping him on the shoulder.

Their relationship had warmed considerably during the hard months on Beta.

Actually, most petty disagreements throughout the population of the colony had been forgotten in the face of the larger difficulties the colonists shared. But Jack's friendship with Pete had grown more slowly as his former distaste for him, born of unrecognized jealousy, had waned, and he had found in him a solid worker and ally on whom he relied more and more.

"Pete, has Daniel talked to yet about taking an expedition down south for a few days?"

When Beta had first been considered as a secret base by the SGC, Daniel had collected data by long range reconnaissance all over the planet. Now, as he was sifting back through the data that had survived, he was methodically marking off what he called points of interest.

This destination was one of his more interesting sites, at least for an archeologist.

"Oh, yeah, he's talked to me a couple of times," Pete smiled. "Sounds fun."

"Yeah, it does. Here he comes now."

Sam was still standing a few steps away from the seated group as Daniel walked up with a grin spreading across his lips.

"I heard that! I heard that!" Daniel exulted. "So, what will we need and how do we get there?"

Sam got herself some of the local herb tea and yet another slice of dried meat, distracting herself from her confused feelings by making herself work on the problem of regulating the naquadah generators so the greenhouses would receive an even amount of heat.

She glanced over at the guys sitting together near one of the fires and saw that Pete's nurse buddy had walked off too, looking a bit bored, as Daniel began talking excitedly to the two men and sketching something with a stick in the dirt of the floor.

Sam shrugged her coat back onto her shoulders and headed for the door, intending to go to her lab and finish up the work on the generator, but Jack was suddenly right next to her.

"You okay?" His dark eyes were full of concern.

"Sure," said she, in a very unsure tone.

"Where you going?"

"I've got work to do in the lab."

"Okay. I'll stop by in a little while?"

Jack's eyes were still boring into hers, trying to read her.

"I'd like that."

Sam cracked a weak smile, the first Jack had seen since they'd entered the mess.

Encouraged, he reached out, caught her hand with a quick squeeze and gave her a Jack O'Neill smile that made her forget all about Pete.

Jack went back to Daniel to finish setting up their expedition plans, but his thoughts were now on Sam.

He knew exactly what had happened when Sam caught sight of Pete as they had come into the mess. He wasn't sure what to do with the knowledge that there was still something in Sam's heart with Pete's name on it. All the while Sam and Pete were engaged, he had been able to rationalize away any feelings of regret or jealousy.

After all, a relationship between Sam and him wasn't a possibility back then.

Now, for the first time since he had met Sam Carter, he was feeling unsure of where he stood with her, and the feeling genuinely surprised him.

Sam was finished with her calculations and trying to open up the generator casing to recalibrate the intensity controls when Jack came through the lab door. She looked over and warmth shot through her at the sight of him. He didn't seem to have any awareness of how strikingly handsome he was, a trait that made him even more endearing.

She put down her instruments and stood up to stretch, happy to have an excuse to stop for a bit.

"How's it going with that generator thingy?"

In two strides he was next to the machine, causing Sam to instinctively move to protect it.

"It's going well. It's surprisingly simple to adjust. It's quite fascinating."

"Yeah, right. Fascinating. Come take a walk and get yourself away from this for a few minutes."

After a few minutes in the still too cold temperatures of the Beta winter, the two were walking up and down the halls and various levels on the Prometheus, sidestepping people almost everywhere. The large spaceship was being used in every way possible by the colonists as the long winter had taken hold.

They found themselves walking in the direction of a certain familiar cargo hold that was still too full of storage items to attract those looking for a place to stay.

"So what is Daniel so excited about?"

"He wants to go to a site about three days walk south of here that he had mapped earlier when we were first checking out this planet. Sounds like fun to me, at least the expedition part of it. We're leaving in a couple days, be gone about ten days I guess."

"Ten days?"

It suddenly hit Sam that she hadn't spent any time to speak of apart from Jack since that fateful day that they had stepped through the Stargate to arrive on Beta.

"Why don't you come along?"

Jack's expression was so earnest that Sam could see that he really wanted her to come with him.

"No, I can't leave the greenhouses this early in the process of growth. You know how important this project is for the colony."

"You're not the only gardener here, Sam. There's lots of folks who can do that."

"It's not just gardening. I'm the only one who has experience with the naquadah generator if something was to go wrong. If the heat is off by even a few degrees..."

"Catherine knows what to do by now. You've got a whole team of scientists who can fill in. Come on, Sam. It would be good for you to get a look at some new scenery."

Sam was silent.

"Is Pete going?"

"Sure he is. He wouldn't miss it. Riley and Guthrie are going with us too. I know you'd be the only woman but you're used to that."

"I need to stay here."

Jack ventured to open up a more thorny issue.

"You seemed uncomfortable today when you saw Pete."

"I guess I was," Sam admitted readily.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Jack had been slowly moving closer to her and now he was close enough to reach out and put gentle hands on her shoulders while he talked to her.

"Why?" He said again quietly.

"Oh. It's stupid."

Sam's eyes were moist. Jack looked at her quizzically.

"He was with that woman in the mess, and I – I just wasn't expecting that. I've never been friends with Pete. Our relationship was a whirlwind from the start. He swept me off my feet; it all happened so fast. I don't know how to do just friends with him."

"And you don't want to lose everything you two had."

Sam felt emotional distance creeping into Jack's voice as he tried mightily to be there for her as she worked through her feelings.

"What we had is over, and I'm okay with that. I'm more than okay with it, Jack. But I feel awkward around him. I don't know what to do."

"Maybe this field mission is a good place to start?"

Sam looked unconvinced.

"Okay. Maybe I just don't want to be away from you for ten days."

"Me either. Don't do anything stupid out there, Jack O'Neill. Come back in one piece this time."

"I'll try not to throw myself in front of any wild animals we come across."

"I'm going to miss you."

Jack finally realized she was serious about staying behind.

"I'll miss you too," he breathed as his arms tightened about her and he buried his face in her hair.

Sam returned the embrace whole heartedly.

Jack didn't want to leave her tonight.

"Hey, this cargo hold is pretty comfortable, as I remember. The blankets are still over there," he pointed and then moved over and sat down on them.

Sam sat down next to him.

"So what's so important about this particular site that's got Daniel all hyped up?"

"Who knows. I'm just going to keep his butt out of trouble." Jack yawned abruptly and lay down on the blankets.

"You going back to your cold, crummy tent or staying here with me?"

Jack was sprawled out with an almost arrogant air about him.

Sam laughed but then her demeanor changed.

"Jack," Sam said in a worried voice, "I'm sorry about this thing with Pete today. I'm sorry if I hurt you in any way. I never want to hurt you."

"Sam, the important thing is, you were honest with me about how you felt. That means a lot."

Jack settled in further and closed his eyes, as if to say 'the subject is closed.'

Sam closed her eyes too, suddenly very tired and very grateful to be with this incredible man who took her at face value, who cared about what she thought and how she felt, and with whom she felt utterly safe.

Two days later, the expedition was ready to leave and spirits were high. The temperature was beginning to be consistently warmer and the storms that had been a hallmark of most of the winter hadn't been seen in a few weeks.

The sun was just over the horizon as the men shouldered their backpacks. Sam was there, along with several others, seeing them off. Daniel, still trying to adjust the various equipment he had strapped to both himself and his backpack, looked fit to burst with glee.

Jack took the moment to walk unobtrusively over to Sam, who was leaning against a boulder outcropping to one side of the group.

He shuffled his foot in the dirt in front of her, not knowing how to say what he wanted to, but she spoke first.

"Stay safe."

Her eyes said a whole lot more than her lips just had.

"You too, Sam. I sure wish you were coming with."

Sam's eyes darted over to the rest of the group, where Pete's new lady friend was saying goodbye very demonstratively.

"Maybe the next expedition. When it's warmer. I miss you already, you know."

She reached out and wrapped a mittened hand around his cheek.

Jack seemed to be internally debating with himself. After all the years of maintaining a professional relationship with Carter, it was hard for him to now break the habit with Sam.

"I'll miss you too, Sam. See you in about ten days, if Daniel lets us come back that soon."

"If he doesn't I'm coming to drag you back myself."

"That a promise?"

Sam smiled. Jack's heart finally managed to break through his ingrained training and to Sam's delight he leaned in and gave her a very unhurried kiss.

"Have fun, Jack."

"Bye, Sam."

The men set off in a companionable pack, waving to those seeing them off and conversing excitedly amongst themselves.

As they disappeared into the distance, Sam's heart constricted as she followed them with her eyes as far as she could.

It would be a long ten days.


	5. An Ancient Discovery

Sam stuck her head in Catherine's sleeping quarters, a converted storeroom at the back of one of the research huts. Catherine had insisted on finding a place to herself, saying that enduring her snoring would be too much to ask of any friendship. Sam saw her now, lying with her back to the door, asleep and of course snoring.

"Catherine?" Sam called quietly, then more loudly when she received no response.

Catherine jolted awake and she saw Sam watching her.

"Huh. What? Sam?" The older woman was still not quite awake.

"President Hayes is asking to see the leadership council. I don't know what's up, but you'd better come with me."

"Just give me a minute, would you?"

"Sure," Sam smiled, sympathizing with Catherine's reluctance to get up and moving.

Although it was easier to get up lately, with the days lengthening and warmth returning to the air, Sam still never felt like she got enough sleep.

Beta's planetary tilt on its axis was greater than that of Earth's, creating harsher winters and hotter summers. Sam had already experienced a few days in Beta's peak summer season years ago when she had come to Beta periodically to help set up the research stations.

"Catherine, how about I meet you on the Prometheus? Take all the time you need."

"I'll be along very soon, tell them."

Sam turned and headed back the way she had come, towards the Prometheus, with its huge, futuristic bulk parked right in the center of the clearing, contrasting starkly with the rough, camp-like atmosphere of the rest of the colony.

Having been a part of its design and construction, Sam felt a secret flush of pride whenever she climbed aboard. Her happiest day since the tragic destruction of Earth had been the day when the Prometheus had unexpectedly sailed into the heart of the new colony, instantly raising hopes and morale.

A meeting of a handful of the colony's leaders was already in progress when Sam slipped in and stood in the back.

She found herself automatically looking around for Jack before she remembered he was still away. After 6 days, she missed him terribly and hoped Daniel wouldn't find some reason to extend the trip, as he had hinted that he might.

"General Hammond, did I miss anything?" Sam whispered to the bald man standing next to her.

"It seems a communication was sent through the Stargate this morning from the Tok'Ra. They have learned that the Goa'uld have reason to believe that we escaped through the Stargate, and they are searching everywhere for the remnant from Earth. The Tok'Ra think we should take immediate precautions."

Sam tuned into what was being said by the man addressing the assemblage.

"The Prometheus is equipped with stealth technology and can be cloaked. The rest of the settlement looks fairly primitive and shouldn't raise suspicions from a ship scanning the planet from orbit. However, the greenhouses may need to be moved. It is probable that the naquadah generators and Asgard technology that the greenhouses are equipped with may be detectable from orbit."

"Well, if that's so, where can we move the greenhouses where they aren't in danger of being detected?"

"That is the problem we need to get our science team working on. Meanwhile," President Hayes ordered, "there is to be no use of any technology that may attract the attention of the Goa'uld should they get close enough to discover Beta. All G'ouald weaponry or any other Goa'uld technology must be removed to an Asgard protected planet immediately."

"For now," General Hammond concluded in his calm voice of authority, "there is no immediate threat and may not be for years. But we can't afford to let down our guard. Let's get some action proposals on the table by the end of the week."

In spite of the fact that the military was obsolete now, everyone could almost hear the unspoken 'dismissed' tacked on to the end of the General's statement.

Sam left, shaken and unsettled, wondering what the future held for this fledgling colony.

* * *

Jack wiped his face in a familiar gesture of boredom.

"Daniel!"

"Jack, I know it's here. I just need to figure out how to access the chambers..."

Daniel continued to obsessively scan the bleak plain they had been hiking along for what felt like forever.

"Okay, maybe here, dig here. I'm getting some readings of a cavity about five feet down," Daniel muttered at a rapid pace.

Daniel's earlier recon of this area had shown some evidence of the presence of curiously symmetrical underground caverns when an infrared survey had been conducted. This indicated that the caverns were hotter than the surface, indicating the presence of some unknown heat source.

"I'm getting some heat readings from over here," Guthrie observed, intently studying a sink hole formation not too far away.

"Woah! Here's a vent, looks like this may punch through to a cave of some sort."

It took about an hour of serious digging to clear an opening large enough for the team to squeeze through one at a time.

They found themselves in a rough chamber of very disappointing proportions to Daniel, who, based on his data, had been expecting a much grander cavern to be revealed.

Daniel scoured the walls with a frustrated expression, clearing excess dirt and fallen rocks out of his way as he hunted for something to support his data.

Jack waited silently, having learned from years of experience that it was best to allow Daniel to operate freely. Guthrie retreated to the outside to join Riley on watch while Pete stayed, arms crossed, in the entrance.

"Daniel, there doesn't appear to be anything here," Pete said carefully.

"There is, there's something behind this layer of sediment that I just...can't quite..."

Daniel was scraping obsessively at a loose greyish slab of rock with his bare hands.

Pete and Jack exchanged a doubtful look but remained silent, waiting.

The slab suddenly fell from the rock face, where it had been wedged in a perfectly fitted recess.

Jack's eyes widened and he leaned down to share Daniel's line of vision.

"That looks familiar."

"Yes, it does."

Daniel laid his hand on a hand shaped receptacle of Ancient design.

Nothing happened.

"What is that?" Pete said, astounded.

Pete was hanging wide-eyed over Daniel's shoulder, staring at the strange gelatinous substance the middle of the device was composed of.

"We've seen this before, on a weapon found on Earth that was built millenia ago by a race we call the Ancients. We used it to fend off the second Goa'uld attack on Earth," Jack explained.

"You mean the invasion was the third time the Goa'uld attacked Earth?"

Sometimes Jack forgot how few people knew the history they had been privy to in the SGC.

"Yes."

"Then why didn't we use the weapon again to stop them from destroying Earth?"

"The weapon's power source went dead, and we were unable to find another source of energy in time," Jack answered.

"This thing seems dead too," Daniel observed sadly, fitting his hand into the palm-shaped pad once again.

Unable to resist touching the thing, Pete reached over Daniel's shoulder and tried his hand too.

Nothing happened.

"Jack, you got the device on Earth to work," Daniel pointed out.

You know I don't have the knowledge of the Ancients up here any more," Jack said, tapping the side of his head.

"Just try, please?"

Jack reached out and placed his hand in the middle of the device. It immediately came to life, the gel inside glowing and beginning to swirl under his palm.

He yanked his hand back spasmodically, then deliberately put it back to see what would occurr.

All but Jack backed off apprehensively as an ominous rumbling started beneath them. A doorway was slowly swinging open just beyond the panel in the dirt wall, dislodging debris as it opened for the first time since the Ancients had sealed it and left.

When the doorway finally finished moving and the crumbling of rocks and dirt around them had ceased, the men breathed out in relief.

"Now what?" Pete wondered out loud.

No sooner had he spoken when the passageway beyond the doorway lit up from some unseen source further within, as if to invite them to come exploring.

"Well?" Jack asked cryptically of the dumbfounded men around him.

"Shall we?"

* * *

Sam sat on the ridge just beyond the colony overlooking the southern horizon.

This was her thinking place, and she was presently deeply involved in thought over the question of how to prevent the discovery of Beta by their enemies.

There had to be a way to disguise the energy signatures being emitted by the naquadah technology the colony was using.

The urgency of figuring it out, and quickly, weighed heavily on her mind and mood. The mere suggestion that the Goa'uld might locate and attack Beta panicked her beyond words.

She stood up and stretched, wistfully scanning the terrain to the south.

She wondered what Jack and his team were doing right now, and felt a pang of regret that she hadn't taken him up on his invitation to go with them.

She closed her eyes, fervently wishing them to be safe.

* * *

The expedition team was headed for home. Jack had decided that their discovery should be shared with the leaders as soon as possible. The ruins they had uncovered weren't just another Ancient outpost like the site in Antarctica, as significant as that would have been.

The little they had seen indicated that a much more extensive find, a city perhaps, lay undisturbed below the ground.

But Jack's unvoiced reason for going back immediately was more basic.

He missed Sam.

He couldn't believe how much he missed her.

He hadn't realized until this time apart from her how much time they spent together or how often he sought out her company.

This was the first time he'd experienced loneliness since arriving on Beta, which amazed him, considering that loneliness was a feeling with which he had once been intimately acquainted.

The difference being that back on Earth he had just been lonely.

Now, he was lonely for her.

The team arrived back at the colony after dark on the second day of their trek, testimony to how hard they had pushed on the return hike.

They went directly to seek out Hayes and Hammond on the Prometheus to share their findings, where they in turn learned of the Tok'Ra's warning received in their absence.

It was agreed that the leadership would meet first thing the next morning to draw up a plan of response in light of these developments.

Sam was bent over staring at the screen of her computer, intent on her research, when Daniel and Jack walked into her lab later that evening. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't even look up.

"Watcha doin'?"

Sam sat straight up with an audible gasp, and whirled to face the two men in the doorway.

"You're early!" She blurted out.

"Well, we could go back for a few more days, if you'd like," Daniel offered facetiously.

Sam's face lit up in an ecstatic grin, and she ran over to give Daniel a warm, 'welcome home' hug.

She then turned and plastered herself to Jack, to his complete delight.

"I missed you-"

"Me too," Jack agreed.

"I missed you too, Sam," said Daniel hopefully.

"Goodbye, Daniel," Jack said pointedly.

"Goodbye, Jack," Daniel answered, tactfully slipping out of the lab.

"Goodbye, Daniel," Sam called happily after his retreating form,

"I'm so glad you're-"

The rest of her sentence was cut off by an impatient mouth descending longingly over hers.

She quickly forgot what she was saying anyhow.

* * *

The next morning's meeting was quick and decisive.

A larger team was to return to the Ancient site to determine if it was feasible for the colony to relocate there. If so, the relocation effort would begin immediately.

The greenhouses and their precious contents would remain behind at the research base until it was determined they could be safely moved. A contingent of scientists-turned-gardeners would stay to care for them for now.

Since Jack was so far the only person who had successfully interfaced with the Ancient technology, he would be stationed at the site indefinitely.

The return expedition would make the journey in the Prometheus.

Jack and Sam left the Prometheus when the meeting ended and talked as they walked, no particular destination in mind, simply enjoying one another's company.

"Hayes wants to go to the site tomorrow, Sam," Jack informed her.

"That quickly? And you're going?"

"I have no choice, you heard the report," Jack answered.

"So what time are we leaving tomorrow?" Sam asked, slipping her arm through his.

Jack's eyes lit up.

"Really? What about the greenhouse project?"

"Catherine knows what to do by now."

Jack smirked.

"That sounds like some very wise advice someone gave you about ten days ago."

"All I know is I'm going with you this time," she responded earnestly, her eyes betraying her heart.

"Sweet."


	6. A Hope Fulfilled

"Hey, Sam, you got a minute?"

Jack O'Neill's eyes had a bright gleam in them as he stuck his head in the room on the Prometheus where Sam and several other scientists were studying the data collected at the Ancient city site, the Beta colony's new home.

"Why?" Sam returned, looking very busy and tired.

"There's something I want to show you down in the site."

Sam hesitated for a minute.

She had been thinking, well, actually daydreaming, about Jack for the last hour when he had popped in.

But the Ancient city site was still a difficult climb from the location of the Prometheus down into the underground caverns and right now she was exhausted.

"C'mon, it won't take long," Jack promised.

"Alright," she agreed, pushing herself back from the table and standing up.

"Is it still cold out there? I haven't been outside all day."

"No, it's good. You'll be warm enough."

It didn't take as long as Sam had feared for them to walk down through the glowing passageway into the central chamber, a vast cavern the size of a city block bustling with activity as the colonists went about their business, transforming the long abandoned shell of a city into a vital, living organism once again.

The mood of the entire population had changed overnight from that of rough pioneers to a sophisticated bunch who now grandly thought of themselves as the new Ancients.

Survival was no longer a hope; it was a given, as they discovered more and more of the amazing legacy hidden within the caverns.

Jack pointed down a side passage that sloped upwards, away from the main hall, one of many such passageways radiating out from the central core.

"It's up here," he instructed her.

The passage twisted and turned a bit, but before long it leveled out into a circular area with a room just beyond that, a room flooded with natural light.

Sam smelled it before she saw it: natural air, blowing lazily into the hall from the bright chamber beyond.

"What in the world!"

Sam was delighted by the sight that met her eyes beyond the threshold.

A main room with several rooms off to each side was lit by three windows carved through the rock revealing Beta's gorgeous purple-blue sky.

She ran to the middle window and looked out, astounded to discover that the windows opened out through a sheer cliff, hundreds of feet above the plain below.

"I've been down there, just this morning," Jack said excitedly, pointing to the foot of the cliff below, "and even knowing these windows were here, I couldn't make them out. There are hundreds of these living quarters, all opening onto the sides of the mountain, basically undetectable from the outside. People have been claiming them all week and a lot have already moved in. So I thought I'd better get you in here to find the one with the best view."

Sam was speechless.

Although having adjusted to the idea that the underground cavern was their home now, Sam had spent the last week holed up on the Prometheus in the lab, with little time to herself to explore the Ancient city. Seeing these airy living quarters was completely unexpected.

"This view is great right here," Sam said, standing at the window looking over the hills and plains spread out below.

Jack moved in behind her, his arms stealing around her waist.

"That's what I thought."

He reached around and reverently kissed her cheek, then snuggled her against him.

They stood there quietly for a while relishing the smell and sound of the wind just beyond their window opening, both reveling in each other's nearness.

"Hey, Sam," Jack interrupted the silence.

"What?"

He sounded tentative, nervous even, very unlike the Jack she knew.

"I was wondering,"

"Do you think we… you and I…" he was starting to break out into a sweat.

Sam knew she should rescue him, but her hopelessly romantic side wanted to hear him spell it out, even if it was painful for him.

Jack cleared his throat.

"I want this to be our home together. I'm asking you to live here, with me. As my wife."

Wow, when he decided to go for it, he went for it.

Sam burst into tears.

Which, for one awful moment, Jack wasn't sure was a good sign or a bad sign.

"Yes!" Sam cried exultantly.

She turned around and put her hands on his chest, looking into his eyes with a love that amazed and humbled him.

"I want that with all my heart."

"I love you, Sam. I've loved you for a long time. I knew you were special the day you marched into that briefing room. But I think it first dawned on me that I loved you on Hathor's ship, when I thought Hathor had killed you with that ribbon device."

"I've loved you since you helped me get Dad to the Tok'Ra. I knew then that I could count on you for anything."

"Hmm."

Jack looked at her with hurt-puppy eyes.

"I thought you'd loved me since you first laid eyes on me."

"Okay, I've loved you since I first laid eyes on you," Sam laughingly amended.

"Sam. I want us to be officially married, the old-fashioned Earth-style stuff. Hayes said he'd do the honors, being Commander-In-Chief, and all."

"That would be perfect, Jack."

Jack smiled down on her, a playful glint in his eye.

But before that, I want to give you your first wedding present," Jack said, reaching into his vest pocket mysteriously.

He handed Sam a small object,a silversheen glimmering raggedly at one end.

Her eyes went wide and she began to cry all over again.

She threw herself into his arms, wrapping herself around him so tight he could barely breathe.

It was the remains of the chocolate bar.

_A/N: I purposely did not tie up some loose ends, having left them to you the reader's imagination. Thanks for reading my 'happily ever after' story (that's all I seem to be able to write)! _

_Evvie (penname Revvie-S)_


	7. Happily Ever After

The Ancient City on Beta was their home now.

Built into the side of a cliff and extended deep into the rocky mountain depths, the city was only about one- third occupied by the recently arrived Earthlings, survivors of the Goa'uld attack on Earth.

Jack and Sam were married now, and their cliffside apartment had one of the best views of the entire city. Daniel had also found someone and had gotten married, but not someone from Earth. Her name was Aliana and Daniel had met her on one of the Asgard protected planets that the remnant now frequented.

Jack had thought it odd that Daniel was visiting the same planet so often, so he and Teal'C accompanied him one day and learned the truth of his visits, much to their delight. Daniel bore their teasing manfully. Aliana was just as smitten with Daniel and soon surprised Daniel by asking to come to Beta with him and live with him.

"You would leave your people, your home?" Daniel had asked her with tears of joy in his eyes.

"You are my home, Daniel," she had replied in the age-old words of heartfelt commitment.

So now they resided in an apartment not far from the one Sam and Jack were happily occupying as husband and wife.

Teal'C had gone through a lot of restless soul-searching on Beta, and had left for a while to live off-world at an outpost of free Jaffa. But he had returned not long ago, to the joy of his friends, with a group of free Jaffa who all had decided to help rebuild the Taur'i world on Beta.

The new arrivals were few, but their strength and unfailing energy soon made them worth a group five times their numbers. One of the Jaffa who had returned with Teal'C was a warrior woman named Challa. Beautiful, strong, and talkative, Teal'C's friends soon observed that Teal'C was quite taken with her. Now they were waiting to see where this tentative romance would take the two warriors.

"Wake up, Sam," Jack prodded his wife who lay next to him in their warm bed.

"Go 'way," she murmured, turning from him and burying her face in the bedcovers.

"Sam, we've got a long journey today. Come on, you should be excited about this trip! It'll be fun!" Jack urged her brightly. He was walking around the room, grabbing the things he wanted to take with him.

"Fun? As in going to a world where the natives think washing themselves with soap and water is a religious no-no?"

"No, fun, as in going to a world where trinium and naquada are so plentiful you can pick it up like shells off a beach. I thought I was the one who got bored with rocks."

"We still have to 'meet and greet' the natives. The ripe natives."

"Since when did you become so picky about smells?" Jack scoffed at her. "Going soft, Colonel?"

Sam sat up, the covers falling downwards, and glared at him. He hadn't used her rank in a long time, and the fact that he was using it to goad her into getting a move on was...working.

Sam got up and stretched deliciously in front of the window, enjoying the soft breeze blowing in on her skin. Jack was behind her in less than a second, wrapping his arms around her from behind and sighing contentedly into her neck.

"Love you," he whispered, just as he did every morning when they awoke and every night before they fell asleep. Sam closed her eyes and savored the feel of his embrace, once again marveling at how right they were together.

"I love you too."

Within the hour, they met the others at the Stargate, all of them packed and prepared for a three or four day stay on the planet the natives called Quan. Teal'C and his friend, or whatever she was to him, Daniel with Aliana, and Sam and Jack all stepped back involuntarily as the Gate swooshed open and then stepped through the shimmering barrier without further hesitation.

They had visited Quan before, and were thus prepared for the sight that met their eyes on the other side of the Stargate. A jungle of bright colors and loud animal sounds filled their senses. A contingent of villagers was descending upon them, Jack having warned them of the time of their arrival, laden with bright flower necklaces and cups of a drink the travelers knew to go easy on.

"Welcome, Beta people! Welcome to Quan. We are happy to see you."

"We are glad to be among you," Daniel returned. "We have brought gifts."

Teal'C pulled a wooden box to the forefront and threw it open. Treasures unique to Beta were revealed: gems of unusual color, jars of oil that the people of Quan used for lamps, and even a crude form of chocolate which the natives had tasted on a trip to Beta and now demanded every time the two worlds met.

Sam and Catherine had found a way to grow cocoa plants and had succeeded in raising cows thanks to the Asgard's harvesting of plant and animal life from Earth. The resulting concoction wasn't as good as the real thing, but at least it was chocolate.

"MMMMM," the natives sighed collectively.

"What's this?" Their leader asked, holding aloft a bar of homemade soap.

Jack glared at a sheepish Sam.

"Just a ceremonial object which we will explain to you later," Daniel caught the fumble.

The entire group, after some more obligatory bowing and greeting, headed for the village. Sam was already wrinkling her nose from her vantage point in the center of the group. Jack tried not to laugh out loud at her sensitivity to the earthy aroma now surrounding them.

After several hours of enduring the hospitality of the friendly natives, the six Betans headed out with permission to farm the ore that lay among the outcrops of the hills further to the north. Sam was finally looking less peaked as they strode off in search of the ores they had come to collect. Jack caught up with her as they began to climb the slowly rising terrain towards the mountains, ruggedly beautiful in the distance.

"Is everything okay, Sam?" Jack asked quietly. She seemed not quite herself.

"Actually, Jack-"

"Isn't this beautiful?"

Challa had come up behind them and was gushing in her melodious accent. "I have never been to a planet with so many colors before," she exclaimed. Challa had been born and raised on a cold, tundra planet and Beta was lush in comparison. Quan must look like a paradise to her, Jack realized.

"It is, Challa," Sam answered with her sweet smile. "And the mountains we are going to are even more so. There are streams that run everywhere, and the water is a purple color that I've never seen on any other planet. The animals in these higher elevations are so varied. You're in for a treat."

"Yes, and the rocks are...to die for," Jack added with an exaggerated sweep of his hand.

"Oh, shut up," Daniel turned and commanded. They all laughed together and it was a good feeling.

The group pitched tents and made camp a few hours later, as the days on Quan were shorter than Beta and they did not want to be caught setting up camp in the dark. Tomorrow they would devote to the harvesting of ores.

Gathered around the campfire that night, the talk turned to Earth. The three members of the company who had been born on Earth told story after story of its beauties as well as its problems. Jack described his cabin and even told a story about when Charlie was little and had first learned to fish. Tears were threatening in the eyes of more than one listener by the time he finished. Jack rarely talked about the son he had lost so tragically so many years ago.

"What?" Jack turned to Sam and asked, watching the smile playing around the corners of her lips.

"Oh, I was just thinking about a fishing trip Mark and I went on with Dad when we were little."

"You know how to fish?"

"Oh, I didn't say that. We didn't even get to break out the fishing rods before Mark stood up and tipped the boat over. I tried to yell at him, but a glob of algae washed into my mouth. I gagged for the rest of the day trying to get the taste out. Dad decided we'd had enough fishing at that point and took us into town to watch a movie, but that was almost worse. I could smell my pond-drenched self all during the movie."

"I am sorry that your world was devastated. Perhaps all was not lost. Perhaps someday you will be able to go back and see what has become of your planet."

At these words of Challa, the Tau'ri of the group fell silent, each lost in his own thoughts and fears concerning Earth's fate.

"I am sorry," Challa finally offered. "I did not mean to sadden you." She looked truly repentant, so much so that Jack stood up and went to sit next to her.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We've all had plenty of time to deal with Earth's fate. I just don't think any of us wants to see how bad it really is, that's all."

"I understand."

"Tomorrow is going to be a lot of hard work. Let's all get some sleep." Jack stood and walked to his tent.

"Good night."

Sam followed him into their tent as the others went to their respective tents. Jack and Sam bedded down quickly and slipped into the sleeping bag, actually two bags done up as one so they could be together.

"So, you gonna tell me what was bothering you earlier today?" Jack asked his yawning partner.

"Maybe tomorrow. I just want to get to sleep now," she sad in a sigh, closing her eyes.

"Okay," Jack responded, feeling just a touch of hurt at both her refusal to talk and at how fast she'd fallen asleep.

She must have been more tired than he'd realized.

The next day went by quickly with all that they had to do before leaving. Their plan was to spend one more night on the planet and then head home, after indulging in the required civilities with the villagers. This usually meant the communal drinking of a few sips of that wild drink the natives brewed from a flower in the forest. Jack thought it was almost as good as chocolate.

He spent the morning helping the others pack several specimen boxes with the sought-after metals they had come for, then stood guard on the perimeter after lunch, an almost unnecessary exercise but Jack insisted that they never get too comfortable anywhere. Too many times his excessive caution had proven itself warranted.

"Jack?"

Daniel's voice carried through the underbrush from the dry riverbed the team was working in. Jack, with one last look around the jungle, walked towards Daniel's voice.

"Jack!" Daniel called again, a bit more urgent. "Sam's not feeling well."

Jack broke into a jog for the last few hundred feet of his approach, unable to quench the cold apprehension that was suddenly filling his gut.

"Sam, hey," he greeted her as he sank down on his haunches next to the huddled woman. Sam was holding herself in pain. Jack pulled her very carefully to his side.

"What's wrong?"

"Cramps," she choked out. It almost sounded like she was crying. Jack's eyebrows rose in surprise. He hadn't been aware it was 'that time of the month.' He usually was up to speed with this stuff.

"Just relax. Do you want some painkiller, some water?"

"You don't understand," Sam began to cry in earnest. "Jack, I was going to tell you but there never seemed to be a good time..."

A mind-blowing revelation suddenly hit Jack full force.

"You're..."

"Yes, for a couple of months now."

Now he really felt like a heel. How had he missed the signs?

"Daniel, Teal'C, we've got to get her back to Beta, now."

"No, don't move me yet, it hurts," Sam protested feebly as Teal'C stepped up and reached down for her. Jack put his hand up to halt his advance.

"Okay, okay, Sam, we'll give it a minute. But we really need to get you back as soon as we can." Jack's hands were in constant, nervous motion rubbing her back and shoulders.

After a minute or two, he could feel Sam's tense muscles relaxing a little and she looked up shakily.

"Okay, I think it's stopped now," she told them. Teal'C was immediately by her side, and he carefully scooped her into his arms as if she weighed no more than a sack of flour.

The walk back through the jungle was far different than the easy trek of the morning before. The beauty of the forest surrounding them was lost on them now as they all concentrated on getting back to the Stargate as quickly as possible. Jack had even forgotten about his preoccupation with the Quanish flower potion that he had so been looking forward to sampling.

They were within sight of the Stargate, glistening on the horizon far below in the valley, when Sam cried out again and the small caravan came to a halt. Jack took Sam from Teal'C and lowered her to the ground, holding her against him in a comfortable embrace.

"It's not as bad, just give me a minute," she asked. This time Sam seemed much calmer and stronger as they waited for the pain to subside.

"Maybe it will be okay," she ventured to wish out loud, prompting a renewed hug from Jack.

"Sure it will, sweetie," he whispered back.

The others stood around feeling helpless and desperately sad at what seemed to be occurring before their eyes. Daniel looked out to the Stargate, so near and yet so far, and then back at Sam with an anxious frown. He knew as well as Jack that getting Sam back through the Stargate wasn't an automatic panacea, like it had been in the old days when SG1 would come barreling through the Gate. Then, Janet was there, coolly fixing broken limbs and stopping their wounds from bleeding. And sometimes technology from other worlds came into play, always combining to keep them alive and ready to fight another day. Almost always.

Technology from another...

"Jack, we've got to get Jacob back here with a healing device. Let me make a run for the Gate while you keep Sam here," Daniel almost shouted.

"I'll go with Daniel," Aliana added predictably.

"Go, go," Jack implored them, before his eyes returned to the pale face of his wife. Her eyes were closed now, and her features still registered pain.

"Hang in there just a little bit longer, Sam," Jack urged her. A barely perceptible nod was her answer.

"This isn't how I wanted this to happen," he heard her say so quietly he had to strain to hear. "I was waiting until we were back on Beta, and I was going to make your favorite meal..."

"Shh, Sam, it's okay. You can make me roast beast with those weird onion and carrot thingies as soon as we're home and you're feeling better. And I'll whip up another batch of chocolate for you."

Sam smiled. "You don't know how," she accused.

"You insult me! Well, I'll just have to prove how good I am at making chocolate. I'll take that as a challenge. Sam." Jack cupped her cheek so she would have to look at him.

"Listen to me and hear this. There is no bad way to tell me we're going to have a child."

Jack's eyes were sparkling with anxious anticipation.

"I'm scared." Sam admitted shakily.

"Me too."

From their overlook, Jack observed the distant Stargate flash into operation.

"They made it," he announced. Jack looked down at his watch, set to Betan time now but still meaningful to him. "It took them 25 minutes, so with any luck, your Dad will be here inside an hour. Just relax, Sam," he soothed.

Sam was looking better and better as they waited quietly. The color was returning to her cheeks and after several minutes she made an effort to sit up more fully, which Jack recognized and aided her in doing. Now Sam could see the Stargate too, and she had been able to watch the Gate open and close not too long ago when the team had returned, presumably with Jacob.

"I should have suspected you were pregnant when you got so prissy abut visiting people who don't know what soap is," Jack finally broke the silence.

"I've always preferred good, clean smells," she protested.

"Hey, who doesn't? You just never turned green thinking about it before."

"Guess not."

"And you've been so tired. I noticed but I just pushed it out of my mind. We have been pretty busy lately, after all."

"What you don't know is I've been laying down during the day and napping almost every afternoon. It felt almost like I'd been drugged. I didn't know pregnancy did that. Oh, Jack, I want this baby so much."

Jack choked up.

"And we're going to do everything we can to make it happen. Look. Here comes Jacob now."

They could see the undergrowth just below them swaying, marking the passage of the hikers as they made their way up the slope. Soon Daniel burst into view, anxiety written all over his face, followed closely behind by Jacob and Aliana.

"Dad!" Sam crowed happily.

Daniel's expression eased visibly as he viewed the improvement in Sam's condition.

"Sammie, tell me what happened to you?" Jacob was down on his knees next to her before he finished greeting her, already slipping the healing device onto his right hand.

"Well, first I got myself pregnant-"

"Spare me the details on that part," Jacob instructed her playfully, after shooting Jack a look that said 'scoundrel' in the tradition of fathers everywhere.

"And now I'm cramping. I think I'm about two and a half months along, Dad."

"Let me check it," he said as the device on his hand sprang to life and scanned her abdomen.

After a minute, he sat back.

"There's no detectable damage. I think it's safe to say those cramps were just a normal part of your pregnancy. But let's get you back home, to bed, where you're going to stay until you feel absolutely fine again."

"Normal?" Jack protested incredulously. "She was doubled over in pain!" His protective stance was almost comical.

"Look Jack, I'm no expert, and there's a midwife on Beta who can tell us more, but this much I know for sure: there's no separation or damage. The baby's fine for right now."

"The baby," Sam repeated dreamily.

"Yeah, a baby," Jack echoed, stars in his eyes.

"I love you."

"Oh, I love you, too."

"Oh, brother, let's get these two home," Jacob groaned, giving away his real feelings through a smile he couldn't repress.

Once again, but under much more hopeful circumstances, Teal'C scooped up the mother-to-be and the group made their way back to the Stargate.

* * *

"Waaah!" 

The high pitched sound reminiscent of a mosquito crossed with a jet engine pierced through the dark of their cozy home for the third time that night.

Or maybe it was the fourth, or the fifth.

"I just fed you, Grace, go back to sleep," Sam whined into the crook of her arm.

"I'll get her," Jack mumbled. He fell out of bed, catching himself clumsily and then stumbling to the crib.

"Come here, you Napoleonic Power Monger," he chastised the baby girl. "Shoulda' named you Janet."

Delivering Grace to her mother, Jack fell back onto his side of the bed like a stone, not moving until Sam's voice roused him again.

"I'm thirsty, honey," she pleaded.

Without a word, Jack obediently got to his feet again and went to the side of the apartment where a pitcher of water stood waiting, and poured some into a glass. After handing it to Sam, he crossed the room and looked out over the valley below, knowing it was useless to go back to sleep until Sam was ready to sleep too.

The view, as always, mesmerized him. Beta's atmosphere had a mysterious purple-blue tint to it that deepened into a mysterious night-time hue, lit by stars that were still unfamiliar to the refugees. It was winter again, and as far as he could see ice crystals twinkled on stone and tree alike.

Life was good. Hard, but good, he admitted to himself yet again.

Maybe someday they would find out if there was anything left of Earth.

Maybe someday Beta would be a great world, ready to take its place among the other intelligent races of the galaxy.

But, right now, his world was complete in this little room, and that suited him fine.

Just fine.

Turning back to Sam and little Grace, he watched mother and child for a few minutes, curling up beside them.

"I was thinking Grace is almost old enough to go beastie-hunting with me next week," Jack joked, soothing her impossibly tiny, impossibly soft, downy head with his calloused hand. Sam snorted.

After a minute, Jack broke the silence again.

"Thank you, Sam."

"For what?" She responded curiously.

"For this. For Grace, for being you. For giving me a second chance at a family. I'd given up on this. I didn't think I deserved it. Still don't."

"Just remember that the next time Grace wakes us up from a good sleep," Sam smiled mischievously.

"I will," he said seriously, all joking gone. "I always will."

* * *

_Author's Notes: **I can't believe I wrote this.** Sorry for those readers who don't like mush! I couldn't help myself! Sam and Jack needed a family out there on Beta, and I just left them hanging all those months ago when I wrote the first six chapters...I blame it on those of my reviewers who insisted the story was simply not finished. Thanks for your comments! I'm not sure this story is finished even yet...I'll leave that open to further inspirations. _

_Okay, now I can go back to the WIP I'm still writing that has much less mush in it. _


	8. Another Ancient Discovery

_Author's note: I don't want to turn this into ' the story that would never end', but I keep having ideas for it that won't leave me alone 'til I write them down- and oh no, this new idea could be a complicated one...your thoughts would be very appreciated!_

_On to Chapter 8 of 'Hope For Tomorrow'..._

Grace O'Neill skipped down the stone hallways of the Ancient city like a sprite on water, singing a tuneless made-up song in between bouts of talking to herself. She had once again escaped from the not-watchful-enough eye of her father, who had brought her with him to the newest excavation site within the old city. Excavation and exploration had only just begun on this quadrant of the enormous underground city left by the Ancients on Beta.

Jack had been hoping to actually get some work done while watching his young daughter.

"Teal'C, is Grace over there with you?" Jack called on the two-way.

"She is not, O'Neill. Has she wandered off?"

"Apparently. Keep an eye out for her, will ya?"

"Indeed, I will."

Jack dropped the shovel he'd been using to help dig out a chamber and strode out into the empty passage.

"Grace! Grace, where are you?"

"Daddy!" The echoed cry sounded farther away than Jack was comfortable with and he set off at a lope towards the sound of her little voice.

"Grace, tell me where you are!" He responded.

"Right'cher," her voice sounded out authoritatively. After a few more calls from Jack to his daughter and her answering cries, Jack found her in a tunnel in front of a doorway he'd never seen before.

"Look at dis, Daddy!" Grace commanded eagerly, pointing her chubby finger at the open doorway.

His curly blonde, just out of babyhood child stood facing an opening in the wall of the tunnel. He scooped her up and held her tightly against his chest, his heart pounding and eyes squeezed shut with relief and love for the irrepressible little girl, before doing as she directed.

When he did look into the chamber beyond the doorway, his eyes widened in shock and excitement. Without a second thought, he carried Grace through the door and into the room.

"Wow. Alright!" Jack enthused, gazing around him.

The chamber resembled an airplane hangar. Small spaceships, each of which would carry several people, and yet looked small enough to go through a stargate, sat in neat rows before them. They were of a design he'd never seen before.

Grace wiggled so violently that Jack was obliged to place her on the ground. The girl ran to the nearest ship and placed her hands on it. To Jack's astonishment, thesmall ship lit up and the back lowered down revealing a ramp to the interior.

"Don't go in there Grace!" He called out, fully intending to go in himself as soon as he'd assessed the potential dangers.

"How did you do that?" he wondered out loud at Grace's accomplishment. Thinking hard through all that he'd just seen, he scooped her up protectively and returned to the entranceway.

"Show Daddy how you found this door, peanut," he asked her.

"Like dis," she answered, placing her tiny hand against a depression in the wall. The doorway immediately closed and looked like a part of the stone wall. Grace removed her hand from the mechanism and stuck both hands in the air.

"See?" she squeaked happily.

"Let's get your mother," Jack muttered, grabbing her hand and running off, dragging her behind him with her little legs pumping to keep up with his long ones. She tripped and fell, resulting in her being dragged a few steps.

"Ooops, sorry, peanut," he apologized, throwing her onto his shoulders.

"Keep your head, down okay?"

"Weeee!" Was her only reply.

"Sam! Sam! Hey, Sam!" Jack bellowed as he approached her lab on the other side of the city. He was panting and sweating but his eyes glowed with excitement.

"What? What happened? Is Grace okay?" Alarmed, Sam had run out into the hallway to greet them.

"She's fine! You have to see what Grace found, come on!" He tried to pull at her, but she backed out of his attempt to grasp her arm.

"Let me finish what I'm doing, it will only take a few minutes," Sam protested.

"Go on, I'll finish up for you," Catherine offered, standing in the lab archway with crossed arms and an amused expression on her face. Jack and Grace never ceased to entertain her.

"Catherine! You come too!" Jack cried upon seeing the older woman. She smiled even more widely at that. Jack and Grace waited, although very impatiently, as the two scientists closed up their experiment.

As soon as they could return to the spot in the hallway where Grace had inadvertently opened the hangar, Jack stopped them and placed Grace on the ground. He had marked the spot with a backpack left in the dust by the side of the wall.

"Okay, show Mommy what you found," Jack prompted proudly, shoving her gently towards what appeared to be a blank part of the wall.

Sam's eyebrow raised quizzically.

Grace repeated her earlier performance by placing the palm of her hand in the concavity on the wall and then turning to watch the amazed expressions of the women as the doorway shimmered and appeared.

"How did she..."

"Grace must have the Ancient gene, and this is an Ancient storage room."

Jack ushered them in and they all gawked at the spaceships standing in silent rows before them.

"Now, watch," Jack instructed further, and he walked Grace up to the closest ship. As before, she touched the ship and it began to glow. The ramp lowered to reveal the ship's interior flight deck. This time, Jack didn't stop. He and Grace walked up the ramp, hand in hand.

"Jack, be careful, Grace might turn on something she shouldn't," Sam cautioned.

Catherine had also clambered into the ship, eyes and mouth open wide. "Look at this, Jack! This looks a lot like a hyperspace drive!" She was already investigating the instrument panel.

"Can we fly it?"

"I don't know, I can't find an 'on' switch..."

The engines roared to life for a second or two. Jack and Catherine jerked around to look at Grace who had her two little hands splayed near the instrument panel. Grace burst into horrified tears and ran to the safety of Sam's arms. The engine noise diminished and died out.

"Uh oh! Uh oh!" Was all they could understand from her anguished babbling. Jack laughed with delight.

"I guess she turned it on," he deduced.

"No my didn't!" Grace protested in a panic.

Jack walked over to the panel where Grace had been and sat in the chair. Placing his hands on either side of the controls, as he'd seen her do, he closed his eyes and concentrated. The sound of the engines returning to life again caused Grace's sharp cries of dismay to echo painfully through the small cockpit.

"Jack, stop! There will be time for that later, but Grace is afraid!" Grace's hiccups and sobs bore testimony to Sam's reproof, and Jack lifted his hands, allowing the ship to fall silent again.

"So, what do you think?" Jack smiled quietly.

The two women peered appreciatively around them.

"I think this is maybe the most important find on Beta to date," Catherine offered, astonished at all she was seeing. She was intently studying some runes she had found on the inside wall of the ship. "If we can figure out how to fly these, we will have a ready force of spaceships at our disposal. Are there weapon systems on board? If there are, we'll be able to defend our planet against the Goa'uld!" Catherine explained rapturously.

Jack's smile was so wide it was about to crack his face.

"C'mere, baby," he encouraged Grace, reaching out his arms towards her.

She slowly raised her round face from where she had hidden it against Sam's dress and looked hopefully, anxiously towards her Daddy. When she saw he was not angry at her, she ran to him and bodily threw herself into his welcoming arms. He whispered assurances to her as they embraced.

"Grace," Sam began, "We just want you to be safe and not touch something that could hurt you. Do you understand?"

She nodded vigorously.

"Good." Jack swung her up onto his shoulders again. "Now let's go tell everyone what we've found."

After Grace was asleep that night, Sam approached Jack where he stood at the stone window, looking out over the vast valley floor below. It was his favorite spot in the city when he felt the need to think. He looked towards her as she came up next to him.

"Jack, if these spaceships are capable of hyperspace travel..." Sam's mind was busily formulating a plan, Jack recognized, "...maybe a few of us could go back to Earth. Just to see if anything..." Sam cleared her throat and tried again. "I know the Asgard and Tok'Ra say Earth appears dead, but they've only just scanned it from a great distance away. I can think of several incidences where our scans for life signs were inaccurate. Especially from such a distance."

"No," Jack spoke softly, looking away.

"I know it would be hard. But if we could save something... anything... more than what we have now, wouldn't that be worth it?"

Jack was silent.

"I can't stop thinking about Earth, wondering what is left, if anything... .anyone... survived." Sam trailed off and stopped in a fog of uncertainty, waiting for a response of any kind.

"I've stopped thinking about Earth, Sam. I don't want to think about it. Beta is our home now, and we're happy here. I'm happy here. About the happiest I've ever been in my life."

Jack finally looked at her, and Sam saw a deep sadness and misgiving in his eyes that had not been present for many months. It physically hurt to see it. She began to question her desire to visit their devastated home planet.

"I'm sorry, Jack." She finally whispered, not sure why he was so hurt by her plan but sorry to see his pain nevertheless. But as they readied themselves for bed and then slipped under the warm furs, Sam's mind could not let go of her plan. She had to see for herself. She was determined to discover Earth's fate once and for all.

TBC


	9. Oh No Grace!

_A/N: It's been a while since I've updated this story about life on Beta after Earth is destroyed by the Goa'uld.. Grace is now about four years old and keeping her parents busy. She's about to get in the worst trouble of her young life, however..._

The rows of ancient spaceships stretched through the newly discovered underground cavern, following the twists and turns of the underground passage. Daniel and one of the scientists assisting him walked along the lineup, counting. Daniel had counted to 21 when the other man shouted excitedly from his side of the cavern.

"Daniel, there is another chamber here!"

"Coming, Ray," Daniel answered, abandoning his task and quickly going to join his colleague. He found him standing in the archway of another previously hidden chamber, the lights within already mysteriously glowing.

"Ray, how did you find this?" Daniel asked, already anticipating his answer.

"I don't know what I did, I just touched this symbol on the wall here and everything opened and the lights began to glow," Ray explained with amazement.

"So you're one, too," Daniel said dryly.

"One what?"

"An Ancient."

Daniel explained what little he, Sam and Jack knew about the Ancient gene and how the technology of the Ancients had been programmed to only respond to those in possession of the right genes. Ray began to puff up proudly and smile.

"Well, don't get a big head over it," Daniel ribbed him. "You may be one of the few with the right genes, but an instruction manual would be a whole lot more useful right now."

The two men walked slowly into the newly opened room, wonder mounting on their features as they surveyed the furnishings of the smaller cavern. A chair similar to the chair found in Antarctica was situated in the center of the rocky cave and dominated the small chamber.

"Jack, come in," Daniel hailed O'Neill over his radio. "We've found something you're going to want to see."

"Have you seen Sam?" Jack asked through the doorway of her lab, Grace firmly held by the hand as he scanned his wife's favorite haunts looking for her.

"I wait here, Daddy," Grace suggested brightly.

"Yeah, right," Jack growled at her. "You are glued to my hand with superglue, do you understand?"

"What's superglue?"

"Forget it, squirt. Let's go find your Mom."

"She said she was going out on the surface for some fresh air," one of Sam's coworkers volunteered.

Jack turned and headed for the outside of the Ancient city, towing Grace behind him, her every three steps matching one of his. Her brown curls bounced along with the effort of keeping up with her Daddy.

The weather had been warming up for the past month and the outside was irresistibly beautiful. Jack scanned around the entrance, dominated by the permanently parked Prometheus which continued to serve both as a central meeting place for the colonists and as makeshift quarters for a few of the Betans who preferred to not live underground. Ruling out the Prometheus as a possible destination of Sam's, Jack skirted around the huge ship and carried Grace on his shoulders up the mountain trail to one of his wife's favorite thinking spots.

His knowledge of her habits was rewarded. Sam was reclined on a flat rock near the top of the trail, sunning herself. Jack smiled widely and Grace squealed, startling the scantily dressed woman.

"Sam, I've been looking all over for you. There's been a new discovery down in the tunnels. Hey, Sam. Is everything okay?" The concern in his voice made Sam smile fondly.

"I'm fine, I just wanted some time to think."

"About Earth?" Jack demanded harshly.

"I can't help it, Jack, I'm sorry. I just can't stop wondering what's left there now. I need to know if anything—anyone—survived. I don't think I'm the only one on Beta who wants to know, either."

Jack was silent. His face darkened and he turned away, scanning the horizon pensively. Grace began to make a fort out of the little rocks she found lying all over.

"Jack, with the new ships we've found we could go back to Earth and see what happened. The Goa'uld may not recognize this technology as T'auri. We could fly through Goa'uld space without arousing suspicion."

"I highly doubt that," Jack countered. "Why take a risk? We are safe here. We all have a chance to rebuild and recover here, in secret. Nothing can jeopardize that, Sam. I want to find out what happened on Earth, too, we all do. But I think it would be devastating to return. I don't think we'll find anyone still alive. Why not just leave it?"

"I can't. I can't stop thinking about it."

"Sam. These past few years have been hard work, but I'm happier right now than I've ever been. I don't want anything to change. I don't want to risk losing you or Grace over what is probably a dead planet. Just forget it. We're on Beta now, and we have a good life."

"Jack, don't you think I've tried? I love Beta, and our life together. It's everything I ever wanted. But I just have to know what is left back there, if anything. What if someone did survive, and needs our help?"

Jack sat up suddenly. "Where's Grace?"

"Not again," Sam groused. "Grace! Grace!"

The little girl came out sheepishly from a rock. "Here I am, Mommy."

"Give me your hand, squirt. Superglue."

Jack grabbed her tiny hand and made her sit next to him on the warm rock face.

"Superglue," Grace echoed.

"It wouldn't take long, Jack. Beta isn't that far from Earth, and those ships have hyperspace technology. As soon as we learn how to use them it would be a simple matter of flying through hyperspace to Earth and scanning the planet from orbit. We could turn around and come right back if we don't find anything worth investigating."

"I just don't think it's worth the risk. I don't want you put at risk. Please, Sam."

Sam glowered and turned away. Jack let go of Grace's hand and went to Sam, sitting behind her and enveloping her in a warm hug.

"Sam, I know how you feel-"

"If you knew how I felt, you'd be down in that chamber right now, figuring out how to work those ships so we could go back to Earth."

"Okay, maybe I don't know exactly how you feel. But what about how I feel? Isn't it important to you to do whatever it takes to keep Beta safe? To keep us, our family, out of danger? You know how much the Goa'uld would love to find us and wipe us out for good."

"Jack, if we went back and found even one person still alive, and we were able to rescue them, it would be worth the risk."

Jack was silent for a time, holding Sam tightly. "I guess. But why does it have to be you and me? Let someone else go."

"Well, so far nobody but you and Grace have been able to turn on the things."

"Grace!" Jack exclaimed, looking at the now empty rock behind them. "Not again. Grace!"

The two distraught parents jumped up and retraced their steps, calling out over and over again for the unpredictable little girl.

* * *

"Let's see," Grace whispered to herself. "We puts our hands here," she laid her hands on the outside of the sturdy little craft, "…and everfing lights up! Wheee!"

As the back of the craft lowered its ramp in silent invitation, Grace scampered aboard and ran to the console which she had previously managed to bring to life and had been so frightened as a result. This time, she knew what to expect. She purposefully laid her hands on either side of the controls and squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of what was about to happen.

The ship burst into colorful life, but this time Grace did not cringe. "Go to Earf, Go to Earf," she chanted intently. "Fly!"

Above her, the ceiling of the chamber shimmered and grew translucent before disappearing altogether, opening the cavern up to the bare sky above. The ship rose and flew smoothly up and out with Grace squealing happily as she stood on tiptoe behind the console.

* * *

Jack had made it back to the clearing where the Prometheus was parked and Sam was right behind him when they saw the ship fly over their heads and out towards space. They both knew instinctively what had happened. Their genius daughter was at it again.

"Oh Jack!" Sam burst into tears. She had no idea what they would do now.

"I'm going after her," Jack called out. He ran towards the chamber where the ships were berthed.

He had to find a way to save his daughter.

She and Sam meant everything to him.

* * *

"Go to Earf, go to Earf," Grace chanted with her hands on the controls of the tiny craft. If she had been watching, she would have seen the blue sky around her darken into the blackness of space, but her eyes were still closed as she concentrated on her task as she understood it. She didn't like listening to her Mommy and Daddy argue and sound sad. She wanted to do whatever would make them happy, and from what she'd heard her Mommy say, this was it. She remembered what her Mommy had said about hyperspace and began to think about flying the ship through the superfast hyperspace window.

"Fly, fly, go real, real, real, fast!" Grace cried out happily.

"Grace!"

The little girl's eyes popped open at the unexpected sound of her father's voice.

"Daddy?" She answered hesitantly, looking all around.

"Grace, I'm flying out to meet you. You can't go any farther, do you understand?"

"Goin' to Earf, Daddy!"

"No!"

Jack's voice sounded desperately urgent. "No, Grace, we'll go to Earth together. Not now, not like this. You're all by yourself, Grace, you can't go by yourself."

For the first time since leaving the cavern, Grace looked out the cockpit window, and became suddenly alarmed by the black void all around her with the occasional star shining. She began to sob.

"Daddy, help me!" She called out to his disembodied voice over the coms. If only he was right here beside her! Grace's heart began to pound with fear.

"I will, Grace, but you have to do just what I say."

Jack was flying right next to her ship now, with both of their ships in orbit around Beta. He had been briefed by Daniel before he'd taken off about Ray, the technician on the ground with Ancient powers. Ray was now using his newly found power by holding the spiral door in the roof of the cave open for them.

"Okay, baby, can you see me?" Jack flew past her line of sight.

"Yes!"

"Okay, stop crying, squirt, because this will be fun. I'm going to fly up and then turn to the right. See if you can do exactly what I do."

Jack executed a quick maneuver and then held his breath. He was gratified to see that Grace was able to parrot his movement exactly.

"Okay, good job, Grace. Now follow me and do everything I do. Can you do that?"

"Okay, Daddy," she sniffed. Her tears were almost forgotten now. This was a fun new game that Daddy was playing with her. She followed Jack's ship through the atmosphere, back into the blue and the brightness of the Betan sky, and down into the cavern with little trouble. Jack was pleasantly surprised to discover that she was a natural pilot and had quickly mastered the Ancient ability to easily control the alien technology with her mind.

The two ships landed as lightly as two flies lighting on a countertop. Jack was out of his ship and up the ramp into Grace's in no time. He caught her up and wrapped his arms around her, not sure yet if he would ever be able to let her go.

"Gracie, I'm sorry. So sorry. I shouldn't have talked about Earth in front of you. You don't have to make it better, Gracie. Mommy and I will be okay, understand? I was so worried for you, honey. You could have been killed. Never, never do that again, do you hear me? You hear, Grace?"

Jack continued to waffle back and forth between outrage and tearful thankfulness as he held her tightly.

"Grace!" Sam was now in the spacecraft with them, for Jack and Grace had not yet bothered to walk down the ramp and leave the craft.

"Oh, you're okay! You're okay!" Sam was crying hard, causing Grace to begin wailing herself.

"Okay, O'Neills, let's all calm down. You're all okay. Come on, let's get you guys home." Daniel was now with them, gently escorting the emotionally wasted threesome down the ramp and back towards the inhabited part of the city.

"My hungry!" Grace announced dramatically, as if it was a tragedy of the highest proportions.

"Me too!" Jack echoed.

"Come on, I'll find you all a snack," Daniel laughed.

"Yay, Uncle Daniel!" Grace enthused.

As they arrived at the central city square, Jacob and another scientist met them, having just come inside from the Prometheus.

"Gran'Pa!" Grace yelled. The older Tok'Ra picked up his granddaughter and enveloped her in an embrace. He spoke over her head to the others.

"We have a problem," Jacob said grimly. "Long-range scanners on the Prometheus have detected alien ships approaching Beta. We're reasonably sure they're Goa'uld. Apparently, your daughter's little space flight adventure did not go unnoticed. I'm afraid Beta may have just attracted the wrong kind of attention to itself."

TBC!


	10. Grace Under Fire

_A/N: I have learned that, where this fic is concerned, to never say it's over. So although this may be the last chapter for a while, but it's probably NOT over!_

* * *

"_We have a problem," Jacob said grimly. "Long-range scanners on the Prometheus have detected alien ships approaching Beta. We're reasonably sure they're Goa'uld. Apparently, your daughter's little space flight adventure did not go unnoticed. I'm afraid Beta may have just attracted the wrong kind of attention to itself."_

* * *

The grim group huddled around the long range scanners on the Prometheus, watching the approach of the enemy ships, each silently recalling a day several years earlier when just such a scene had played out on Earth. 

"How much time do we have?" Jack asked Sam and Jacob.

"Three hours at the most," Sam announced tensely. "We should begin evacuating."

"What about the chair we just found?" Daniel asked for the third time. "It's got to be an ancient weapon, like the one on Earth. And this one still seems to have a lot of power left."

"We can't wait to evacuate on the slim chance that we might figure out how to shoot down the Goa'uld before they get here and start shooting us. We don't have enough time as it is to get all our people safely to the Stargate."

"We do if we can fly people in the Prometheus, along with a few of those new ships, back and forth between the Stargate and the City. But we have to start now."

"Jack," General Hammond addressed his second, "Get down to that new chamber and see what you can do with that chair. Teal'C, you and Jacob get started shuttling people to the Stargate. Sound the evacuation order."

Jack didn't even wait for Hammond to finish speaking before he was running for the Ancient chambers below the living quarters of the city. Sam followed him with Grace's hand held tightly in hers. She wasn't going to give Grace any chances to get into trouble again.

Sam hadn't yet seen the new ships or chambers, but was full of a desperate hope that they would find a way to defend their new home. When she finally caught up to Jack in the newly excavated cavern, Jack was already in the chair, manipulating the arms the way he had done on Earth. There was a frown on his face.

"There's something different about this control panel," he griped as he tried to grasp the gel-like substance under his palms. "It just feels different."

"Can you get it to fire the weapon?" Riley asked. The soldier had just entered the room, and workers from the chambers beyond were filling in behind him to watch Jack, having heard the news to evacuate.

"I'm not even sure it is a weapon," Jack muttered distractedly. He jumped out of the chair and began working his way around the room, experimenting. The walls had panels of controls on them, and he began touching the different crystals and levers, seeing which ones activated for him. Some remained dark while others glowed like Christmas lights.

Sam followed behind him, watching and noting which panels seemed active and which appeared dead under Jack's touch.

"This looks familiar," Sam cried out, pointing to a set of small dials that looked a lot like a Goa'uld force field control. Jack turned and placed his hand on it, but nothing happened. Then, for no particular reason, Sam placed her own hand on the device. A force field immediately leapt to life and surrounded her. Shocked, she pulled her hand away and the device deactivated.

"Sam?" Jack asked, incredulous. Like a light bulb coming on, an idea popped visibly into his head.

"Sam, touch this one," he asked, pointing to a panel which had remained dead under his hands just moments before. The panel lit up and began to hum before Sam jerked backwards, breathing hard from fear. She hesitantly followed him around, discovering that a few other of the panels he had not been able to activate responded instead to her.

"But I don't have the Ancient gene!" She protested.

"You don't have the same Ancient gene I have," Jack responded. "But I'm betting, just like humans have a variety of genes, there are a variety of Ancient genes floating around in our DNA. And you have something I don't. Get in the chair, Sam."

Encouraged, she climbed into the chair. Nothing happened. Deeply discouraged, she got out and moved to Jack's side.

"I'm sorry," she offered. Jack put an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, not your fault. It was worth a try. But if we don't figure out how to activate this weapon, Beta is in big trouble."

"Jack, the ships have entered orbit," Riley announced from the hallway. A loud concussion somewhere above them alerted them to the beginning of the Goa'uld attack. It was too late for those left in the city to evacuate now.

Sam and Jack looked at each other sadly. Was this to be a repeat of the disaster on Earth?

"Daddy," Grace piped up from somewhere behind the despondent couple.

"Not now, Grace," Jack began but then stopped admonishing her abruptly, turning to see his daughter sitting in the chair. A deep, throbbing hum was building from somewhere beneath the chair. It was a sound Jack remembered well.

"She's doing it!" He breathed. "Don't stop Grace, keep doing...whatever it is you're doing." he encouraged her. The chair continued to build in vibration and noise, and Grace's eyes grew wide with fright.

"Daddy!" She called out for reassurance. Jack moved close to her side but refrained from touching her, not wanting to thwart the activity she was somehow coaxing from the Ancient device.

"Is she going to be okay, Jack?" Sam asked fearfully.

"Yeah, I think so. Grace, don't be afraid. The chair will shoot out some pretty lights, that's all."

"Cool!" The tiny girl answered, obviously excited now. She craned her neck in all directions, looking for the fireworks Daddy had spoken of.

"Keep your hands in the gel," Jack ordered her.

A circular opening appeared beside the chair and a stream of bright defense drones began to pour out and speed upwards, just as they had done on Earth years earlier. Grace squealed happily.

"It's pretty!"

Above them, Goa'uld ships began falling. The drones continued to poured outward until all the enemy ships had been eliminated. The sounds of attack all around the city diminished and finally ceased completely. Then, as if the weapon itself knew they had won, the drones ceased their flow.

But the show wasn't over. A new series of brightly lighted energy beams poured from the same source, this time in a smooth greenish river of phosphorescence, flowing upwards into the atmosphere. Jack eased Grace down from her perch. She looked tired and very sleepy. But the activity continued.

"Let's get Grace out of here, and go topside. I want to see what's happening for myself," Jack said to Sam. He carried the girl protectively, keeping her tucked under his chin as they walked together up the long underground passageways. She nestled into the crook of his neck and shoulder and closed her eyes.

The entire room emptied out, following the small family up towards daylight. The sight that met their eyes was unbelievable.

The entire sky was suffused in a greenish glow, and the matter stream emanating from below the city was continuing to pour pigment into the previously purple-blue atmosphere. Sam began to laugh with delight.

"It's a forcefield! Over the whole planet!"

"How long will it last?"

"I have no idea. I've never seen anything like it before. Hopefully it will last a long time. A very long time."

Grace, who had opened her eyes again, clapped her hands.

"Whee! Pretty!" She exclaimed. Jack held her on his shoulder as they both marveled at the field now protecting Beta from further harm.

"Beta truly is a safe haven now," Jack observed. "For as long as this shield holds, we can go about our business without having to hide any longer. Finally, we may actually defeat the Goa'uld!"

Hammond had joined them, having stayed in the city once evacuations had become impossible to continue. "Let's inform our people that Beta is safe. They can come home."

That night, after feasting and celebrating until she'd dropped, Grace lay cuddled in a ball in her bed, safely sleeping off her exhaustion in her own home. Sam came out of her room and found Jack curled up on their version of a couch, looking extremely tired.

"Well," Sam said as she sat down and wrapped her arms warmly around him. "Grace is an Ancient like we've never seen yet. She must have your Ancient gene...and mine."

Jack smiled proudly. "That little kid is a lot of trouble. But worth it."

"I'll say! She saved the entire planet today!" Sam reminded him sharply.

"Big deal. I've saved it...like, 7 or 8 times."

"Oh really? All by yourself?" Sam asked, outraged.

"Okay, you helped," Jack conceded. "I really don't want to fight about it."

"Okay, what do you want to do then?"

Jack's smile grew slowly until he was grinning mischievously down at his wife. He ran his hands through her hair and pulled her close.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll think of something."

The End

(For now)


End file.
